Ivanka Trump turned up to the New York courtroom to testify at her father’s civil fraud trial looking like a supermodel on a mission.
Clad in nearly $10,000 worth of high-fashioned armor — including, according to the Daily Mail, “a $4,990 navy Carolina Herrera coat, matching $775 Jimmy Choo Romy 85 heels, and a $3,400 black Chanel Executive Tote” — Ivanka took the stand on Wednesday and spent five hours on the stand defending former President Donald Trump’s family business.
When Ivanka steps into the courtroom, it’s like a top model on the runway. #IvankaTrump pic.twitter.com/99PTBKSegw
— Aric Chen 陳曉天 (@aricchen) November 9, 2023
“The state describes her as the catalyst of her family’s dealings with Deutsche Bank, whose decade-long relationship as the Trump Organization’s single largest lender rested on an alleged foundation of fraud,” wrote Adam Klasfeld for The Messenger. “For the defense, the former president’s daughter was a shrewd businesswoman and mother whose dreams had been sullied by an overzealous attorney general intent on destroying the family’s companies and the jobs that came with them.:
According to the Associated Press, “Ivanka Trump has been in her father’s inner circle in both business and politics, as an executive vice president at the family’s Trump Organization and then as a senior White House adviser.”
But, under oath, Ivanka testified that she was not “privy” to her father’s personal financial statements — the statements that, New York Attorney General Letitia James is arguing, Trump fraudulently inflated and, in doing so, deceived both banks and lenders.
Beyond seeing “a few documents and correspondence” that referred to those statements, Ivanks said, “Those were not things that I was privy to.”
Regarding the Doral golf resort in Florida, Ivanka described it as a “Herculean” renovation, undertaken for sentimental reasons, according to AP.
“My father had deep and nostalgic love for that particular property,” she said, according to Klasfeld. “He had a lot of sentimental affection for the property and a strong feeling that it wasn’t living up to its potential, physically.”
“Ivanka Trump says her father focused on the golf, and she focused on the resort itself,” Kalsfeld reported. “It’s something she feels ‘very proud of,’ she says, adding that’s especially true now that she’s a Florida resident.”
Ivanka Trump says her father focused on the golf, and she focused on the resort itself.
It’s something she feels “very proud of,” she says, adding that’s especially true now that she’s a Florida resident.
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) November 8, 2023
Transforming the company’s run-down historic Old Post Office building into a luxury D.C. hotel, she said, was “a labor of love.”
“It was a very special iconic building that I’m really proud to have had the opportunity to work on,” Ivanka said.
Ivanka Trump on the Old Post Office:
“It was a very special iconic building that I’m really proud to have had the opportunity to work on.”
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) November 8, 2023
“As I testified earlier, they were complicated projects and I believe that we overdelivered on every metric,” Ivanka said of the two endeavors.
They move on, with more of Ivanka Trump’s fond praise of their work:
“As I testified earlier, they were complicated projects and I believe that we overdelivered on every metric.”
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) November 8, 2023
Ivanka’s memory, however, got fuzzy when she was asked about discussions of Trump’s financial statements.
Reports AP:
But when questions about the post office project turned to questions that its government owners raised about some aspects of her father’s financial statements, she said she didn’t recall that.
The agency overseeing the bidding flagged those concerns in a December 2011 letter to her, and Trump Organization executives looped her in as they prepared a response ahead of a presentation to officials in Washington. An agency document showed the company addressed the issues in its presentation, which she attended.
But Ivanka Trump said she didn’t recall “that they discussed financial statements specifically.” Rather, she remembered talk of “our vision for the project” and the company’s experience, with her father mentioning his renovation of New York’s famous Plaza Hotel.
She retained a stake in the Washington hotel lease until its 2022 sale, which netted her $4 million.
“The non-jury trial will decide allegations of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records — but Judge Arthur Engoron already has resolved the lawsuit’s top claim by ruling that Trump engaged in fraud,” AP explains. “That decision came with provisions that could strip the ex-president of oversight of such marquee properties as Trump Tower, though an appeals court is allowing him continued control of his holdings for now.”
Defense attorneys for President Trump will now have their chance to present their case, and, on Thursday, they intend to argue that the judge should immediately find in their favor.
“The attorney general rested their case,” said Trump attorney Alina Habba outside the court, “and it is very clear that they have failed to prove the essential elements of the case.”
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