Ivanka Trump, the former president’s daughter, testified Wednesday in the family business’s fraud trial, saying she was not engaged in the preparation of the financial statements at the center of the case.
The 42-year-old, who left the Trump Organization in 2017 to become her father’s top White House assistant, is not a defendant in the civil fraud case but has been called to testify.
Donald Trump, his eldest sons Don Jr. and Eric Trump, as well as other Trump Organization executives, are accused of inflating the worth of their real estate properties by billions of dollars in order to gain better bank loans and insurance terms.
After being sworn in, Ivanka Trump was asked by Louis Solomon, a lawyer from the New York state attorney general’s office which brought the case, if she had “any role in preparing Donald J. Trump’s statements of financial condition?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” she said. “I didn’t know about his personal statements, per se, other than what you’ve showed me.”
Several loans secured by the Trump Organization were based on the former president’s assessment of his fortune.
Ivanka Trump was also questioned about different loans given to the family firm between 2011 and 2016, but she said she couldn’t recall many details.
“I don’t recall, sitting here today, seeing these terms from 2011,” she said about an email exchange involving Inbursa Bank.
Prior to Ivanka Trump’s appearance, New York Attorney General Letitia James stated that she had “secured, negotiated loans to obtain favorable terms based on fraudulent statements of financial condition.”
“She will attempt today to distance herself from the company,” James told reporters. “But unfortunately, the facts will reveal that in fact she was very much involved.
“We uncovered the scheme and she benefited from it personally.”
Ivanka Trump’s testimony follows that of her father and two brothers, who have kept a low profile since her father departed the White House in January 2021.
In contrast to her father’s tense testimony on Monday in the same Manhattan courtroom, Ivanka Trump appeared calm and calculated, her voice scarcely audible at points.
Trump, the Republican presidential favorite in 2024, fought with the court repeatedly while testifying, calling the trial a “disgrace” and “election interference.”