Ivanka Trump testifies in father’s fraud trial: Former first daughter arrives at court to take the stand as the final witness in New York’s $250milion case
- Former first daughter walked out of her Park Avenue apartment on Wednesday
- Donald Trump praised his ‘wonderful, beautiful daughter’, and slammed the AG
- Follow DailyMail.com’s coverage of Ivanka’s testimony live HERE
Ivanka Trump has arrived at court for her bombshell testimony in her father’s New York fraud trial that could sink their business empire in the Big Apple.
She will take the stand to face questioning that could make or break Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million lawsuit accusing her real estate mogul father and brothers of deliberately inflating values.
The 42-year-old mother-of-three left her apartment on Park Avenue in Manhattan on Wednesday morning in a blue Carolina Herrera coat, Jimmy Choo heels, and a Chanel bag. She then jumped into an SUV for the trip downtown for her blockbuster appearance.
The former first daughter has repeatedly tried to avoid appearing with her lawyers, claiming it would cause ‘undue hardship’ to be in court during a school week.
But she will now be grilled by state attorneys just two days after her father’s combative testimony where he attacked ‘hostile’ Judge Arthur Engoron and ‘fraud’ James.
Hours before she was set to take the strand, Trump praised his ‘wonderful, beautiful daughter’ and said she was being ordered to appear at the direction of Letitia Peekaboo James, the Corrupt and Racist New York State Attorney General, who has allowed Murder and Violent Crime in New York to flourish…
Ivanka Trump has arrived at court for her bombshell testimony in her father’s New York fraud trial that could sink their business empire in the Big Apple
She will take the stand to face questioning that could make or break Attorney General Letitia James’s $250 million suit against her father and brothers that could sink their business empire
The 42-year-old mother-of-three left her apartment in Manhattan in Jimmy Choo heels and a blue coat on Wednesday morning and jumped into an SUV for the trip downtown for her blockbuster appearance
‘They are trying to bring Ivanka into the case, despite the Court of Appeals ruling that she cannot be charged. Sad!’
He also tore into the ‘Trump hating’ and ‘clubhouse appointed’ Engoron, who ‘viciously ruled against me before the trial even started’.
The former first daughter is testifying under duress after she and her attorney fought the subpoena and took it to the court of appeals.
Her legal team argued that traveling to New York from her Florida home would place ‘undue hardship’ because the appearance was in the middle of a school week.
But, now, under a judge’s order, Ivanka will face questions about her family’s business deals and financial statements concerning the value of company assets in its golf and real estate empire.
Her family’s ability to keep doing business in New York state is on the line, James seeks $250 million in penalties after the judge already issued a finding of fraud and put some limitations on Trump family business deals in place.
James told reporters that Ivanka Trump ‘secured and negotiated loans to obtain favorable terms based on fraudulent statements of financial condition’.
‘She will attempt today to distance herself from the company,’ James added.
‘But unfortunately, the facts will reveal that she was very much involved.
‘We uncovered the scheme, and she benefited from it personally. And Miss Trump will do all she can to separate herself from this corporation, but she’s inextricably tied to the Trump Organization.’
Trump walks up the stairs to the courthouse surrounded by New York court officers. Her lawyers have repeatedly appealed to try and avoid her taking the stand
The former first daughter smiled as she walked out of her apartment on Park Avenue ahead of her bombshell testimony that could make or break the fraud case
The 42-year-old is the final witness in the case and will be grilled by state attorneys just two days after her father’s combative testimony where he attacked Judge Arthur Engoron and James
Hours before she was set to take the strand, Donald Trump praised his ‘wonderful, beautiful daughter’ and attacked AG James on Truth Social
Ivanka is not professionally at risk. Her attorney got her dismissed from James’ case. But her relationship with her family could be on the line.
She is rarely seen in public with her father Donald Trump, and has her own legal team separate from Donald, Don Jr and Eric Trump.
Trump took the stand on Monday, where he sparred with New York Judge Arthur Engoron and delivered long, campaign-style speeches, in which Engoron told him to stop and answer the questions.
The case is civil, not criminal, meaning the judge will determine the case’s outcome instead of a jury.
Engoron already ruled that Trump’s financial statements were filled with fraud. This trial is to determine the punishment.
Alina Habba, a member of Donald Trump’s legal team, walks into the court two days after she called Justice Engoron ‘unhinged’ for telling her to sit down during the former president’s testimony
Part of determining that punishment is to look at the intent.
The judge will determine whether the Trumps deliberately falsified business financial statements to inflate the company’s value in order to obtain favorable terms for loans and insurance coverage.
That is where the testimony of Ivanka, Don Jr. and Eric comes into play.
And while Don Jr. and Eric remain part of the Trump Empire, Ivanka Trump has stepped away from the family trade. She and husband Jared Kushner are independently wealthy and not financially dependent on the former president.
In their testimony last week, Ivanka’s brothers distanced themselves from the company. The two served as trustees of Trump Org after Donald Trump became president.
Don Jr blamed the accountants who prepared paperwork for him to sign in his role of trustee, saying his signature attesting to the accuracy of the financials was ‘not a symbol of yes or no.’
Eric said he was not involved with the preparation of the financial statements and knew ‘nothing’ about them.
The 42-year-old mother-of-three looks at the doorman as she leaves her home
She then got into a SUV for the journey to the court in lower Manhattan
Meanwhile, Ivanka Trump has publicly distanced herself from her father and her Trump family since leaving the White House in January 2021.
She and Kushner live in Miami with their three children. Ivanka’s focus is now ‘on her family, friends and philanthropic work’ as she transitions from her political life to a more private one, sources close to her told DailyMail.com recently.
She has raised money forUkrainian refugees and helped deliver supplies to the people of Maui after the devasting wildfires in Hawaii. What she has not done is re-enter politics.
She wasn’t at Mar-a-Lago last November when Donald Trump announced he would seek another White House term, posting a statement that she loved her father but wanted to stay out of politics.
Father and daughter still spend time together, albeit in private and away from the cameras. ‘The two play golf regularly,’ a source revealed.
They also see each other at family occasions such as at the bat mitzvah of Ivanka’s 13-year-old daughter Arabella Kushner this summer, as well having the occasional lunch and dinner together.
Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump in July 2014 at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump with their three children Arabella, Theodore and Joseph out for a walk in Miami in October
Donald Trump after testifying in his civil trial in New York on Monday
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner with Donald Trump at his Bedminster Golf Club in July
Ivanka Trump with President Trump on Air Force One in November 2020
Ivanka Trump’s relationship with her father took a rocky turn after her testimony before the House’s January 6th committee
But their relationship took a shocking turn in June 2022 when Donald Trump turned on his daughter after her testimony to the House committee investigating the January 6th insurrection revealed she didn’t think the 2020 presidential election was rigged.
In a 17-second clip of her interview to the committee that was played during a primetime televised hearing, Ivanka backed up Trump Attorney General Bill Barr’s assertion that the election wasn’t stolen from her father.
‘I respect Attorney General Barr. So I accepted what he said — was saying,’ she says.
In the aftermath, the former president took to his Truth Social social media account to say that Ivanka was ‘not involved in looking’ at the results of the 2020 election.
‘Ivanka Trump was not involved in looking at, or studying, Election results. She had long since checked out and was, in my opinion, only trying to be respectful to Bill Barr and his position as attorney general (he sucked),’ Trump wrote on Truth Social, around 12 hours after part of her testimony was revealed.
It was a startling turn of events. Trump and his daughter were known for their close relationship and she was seen as his favorite child.
In April of last year, Ivanka Trump spent eight hours testifying before the House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol, where Donald Trump supporters attempted to stop the certification of the election.
She reportedly was one of the White House staff who went to the Oval Office multiple times on January 6th, asking her father to tell his supporters to leave the Capitol.
Donald Trump Jr. (left) and Eric Trump (right) in a New York courtroom last week
Before politics, Ivanka Trump served as Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, her family’s business empire.
It was a position that catapulted her to fame, leading to guest appearances on her father’s then-reality show The Apprentice and inches of press in New York’s notorious tabloid gossip columns.
She participated in Trump and Trump-branded projects, including deal evaluation, pre-development planning, financing, design, construction, sales, and marketing, according to then-descriptions on the Trump Organization’s website.
She also led the charge to led the charge to develop the Old Post Office Building in Washington D.C. to a signature Trump hotel. She oversaw the $200-million conversion of the historic building. It opened in 2016 and was a gathering point for Trump supporters during his administration but the family sold off the lease in May 2022.
Ivanka turned her business skills into a company of her own, where she sold jewelry, shoe, and clothing.
She left the business in March 2017 to become a senior adviser in Donald Trump’s White House.
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