Ivanka Trump testifies about Trump Organization role at New York trial
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Ivanka Trump, the daughter of former President Donald Trump, claimed that she had nothing to do with creating financial reports that supposedly exaggerated her father's business holdings. She made this statement as she appeared in court on Wednesday for the $250 million civil fraud lawsuit brought against the New York attorney general.
After being sworn in at a state court in Manhattan at 10am, the 42-year-old became the third child of Trump to give testimony during the trial. Her brothers, Donald Jr. and Eric, answered questions under oath the week prior.
In a smart, formal outfit, Ivanka responded to inquiries about her professional background and previous position at the Trump Organization calmly and quietly. This was a notable difference from the passionate and critical statements that her father made during his court appearance on Monday, where he spoke out against the judge and New York Democrat attorney general, Letitia James.
Louis Solomon, an attorney for the state, asked Ivanka if she played a role in creating a document in 2011 where Trump stated that his net worth was more than $4 billion. She replied that she was not aware of any involvement.
Ivanka clarified that she was not part of her father's individual financial matters and that she only worked for the company. She repeatedly mentioned that she couldn't remember particular talks, emails, or encounters related to the financial deals of the Trump Organization.
James has filed a lawsuit claiming that the family and its organizations have been deceitful about the worth of their property assets to acquire loans with better conditions.
In December 2011, Ivanka shared an email with executives at the Trump Organization, detailing a proposal for a loan from Deutsche Bank. She expressed her excitement by saying "it doesn't get better than this, let's discuss asap." Ivanka believed that the terms of the deal with Deutsche Bank were favorable.
Ivanka was asked if she knew that Donald Trump had stated his net worth to potential lenders as being more than $4 billion earlier that year, and she answered "no".
Prior to this, the office of James stated that Trump's value was nowhere close to that quantity back in 2011.
Earlier this year, Ivanka was released from the lawsuit filed by James's office on the grounds that the claims made against her were no longer valid due to being past the legal time limit. Originally, Ivanka was sued alongside her father and two brothers.
On Wednesday, the attorney general emphasized once again on X, which was previously known as Twitter, that Ivanka held a major position in the business and was able to obtain better loan terms by making use of false financial information provided by Trump.
During questioning, Ivanka stated that the family had garnered interest from Deutsche Bank, even arranging for Donald Trump to meet with the bank's former CEO, Anshu Jain, over lunch during one of his trips to New York.
She mentioned that the Doral golf property in Florida underwent a remarkable transformation, in which Deutsche Bank facilitated the financing, and as a result, the German bank expressed absolute satisfaction.
Trump announced on the first day of the week that his corporation has settled their final loan to Deutsche. He also repeated his statement that the repayments prove that there is no wronged party in the prosecutor's lawsuit.
Ivanka has withdrawn from being actively involved in politics since serving as an advisor to her father in the White House. President Trump has criticized and expressed his disappointment regarding the ongoing legal matters. He referred to them as a "shameful" situation and claimed that James is attempting to ruin his chance of being re-elected in 2024.
James, the person in charge of bringing the civil lawsuit last year, has achieved a major win against Trump. This was after the judge made a ruling before the trial began that the accused parties had committed fraud and had exaggerated the worth of their assets by billions of dollars.
During the trial, the exact consequences that will be assigned will be decided. These may consist of the cancellation of the Trump family's commercial permits within the state of New York.
When James initially filed her lawsuit, she asserted that Ivanka, a former executive vice-president at the Trump Organization and a graduate of the prestigious Wharton School, had knowingly played a role in inflating Donald Trump's net worth by billions of dollars and deceiving financial partners with false and misleading information.
Ivanka's legal team, who stood by her when she left her position within the business after joining her father's administration in Washington, D.C., made the claim that she had no part in producing or spreading declarations that were delivered to Deutsche Bank by the firm. Additionally, they argued that the events being referred to happened too far back in time for Ivanka to be held responsible.
Ivanka has been summoned to provide testimony and is anticipated to be the last person to testify for the state in this lawsuit, which is scheduled to conclude in December.
