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A polished Ivanka Trump begrudgingly showed up to a Manhattan courtroom Wednesday to answer questions about her dad’s business dealings — which she calmly claimed to have nothing to do with despite her role in helping him secure financing on several properties.
The former first daughter, who lives in Miami, Fla., unsuccessfully tried to get out of testifying at the $250 million fraud case against her ex-president father and brothers Don Jr. and Eric — but ultimately was forced to show up in person to Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday morning.
When a state lawyer called the mother of three to the witness stand, Justice Arthur Engoron dryly joked, “Who is she?”
“I’m not involved. I didn’t know anything about it,” Ivanka, 41, said when asked about Donald Trump’s “statements of financial condition.”
Ivanka — the last witness to be called by New York Attorney General Letitia James — arrived to the 60 Centre St. courthouse about an hour early, wearing a navy outfit including an overcoat, a pants suit, pumps and clutching a leather Chanel handbag.
James — who observed the testimony Wednesday from the front row — claims in her lawsuit that Trump, 77, exaggerated his net worth by billions a year on annual statements of financial condition to save hundreds of millions on bank and insurance terms.
While Ivanka, a businesswoman and former vice president of the Trump Organization, denied involvement in preparing the filings, court evidence showed that she was involved in securing financing for several Trump properties and she corresponded about the statements with potential lenders.
In an August 2011 email to one banker — written as Ivanka was trying to get financing for the Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami — she wrote: “My father will also send you his more recent financial statements by hard mail.”
In a 2011 letter with Deutsche Bank seeking a loan for Doral, she wrote, “I am pleased to include” the most recent financial statement.
Ivanka testified that her husband, Jared Kushner, introduced her to a private wealth manager with Deutsche Bank as the Trumps were seeking financing to buy and overhaul the Doral golf resort near Miami around 2010 or 2011.
She said the family real estate company ultimately ended up going with Deutsche Bank to finance Doral, and in one 2011 email about the terms, she wrote, “It doesn’t get better than this” and “let’s discuss asap.”
“Well, we ended up doing the deal with Deutsche Bank,” Ivanka said when asked if it was a good deal. “Yes, I thought generally the deal terms with Deutsche Bank were positive and we proceeded forward.”
Throughout Ivanka’s testimony, she was noticeably less combative than her dad was on Monday and her brother Eric was last week.
A calm and composed Ivanka answered “I don’t recall” to some dozen questions by a lawyer with the AG’s office about financial transactions and meetings with bankers dating back as far as 2011.
Before the lunch break, Trump lawyer Christopher Kise objected to emails coming into the trial between Ivanka and her husband, citing “spousal privilege.” Engoron said he’d rule on the objection after the break.
Ivanka was previously named as a defendant in the suit, alongside her brothers and dad, until she was dismissed from the case in June by an appeals court that found the claims against her fell outside the statute of limitations.
Engoron and an appeals court both rejected her bid to get out of testifying in the case.
Just after midnight Wednesday, Trump posted on his platform Truth Social that his “wonderful and beautiful daughter” was being summoned by “Letitia Peekaboo James, the Corrupt and Racist New York State Attorney General, who has allowed Murder and Violent Crime in New York to flourish.”
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