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Friday June 28, 2024

Ivanka Trump denies 'involvement' in Donald Trump trial testimony— Here are key takeaways

Ivanka Trump is no longer a co-defendant in the attorney general's lawsuit against Donald Trump, Eric Trump, and Donald Trump Jr

By Web Desk
November 09, 2023
US President Donald Trump talks to his daughter Ivanka Trump. — AFP/File
US President Donald Trump talks to his daughter Ivanka Trump. — AFP/File

Ivanka Trump made her much-awaited appearance on Wednesday, following an extraordinary eight days of witness evidence, which featured Donald Trump and three of his adult children in the civil fraud trial filed by the New York attorney general's office, Ivanka Trump made her much-awaited appearance on Wednesday.

After hearing from the oldest Trump daughter, who was questioned about her involvement in obtaining loans for the Trump Organisation and a penthouse apartment she rented from her father, the AG's office decided to withdraw its case.

There were no explosions or irate outbursts during her presentation, which was not nearly as controversial as her father's on Monday.

The case against Trump, his two adult sons, and his business involved testimony from twenty-five witnesses in all, with the Trump family making up the final four witnesses. 

Ivanka Trump is no longer a co-defendant in the attorney general's lawsuit against Donald Trump, Eric Trump, and Donald Trump Jr, which seeks $250 million in damages and to prevent the former president from conducting business in the state.

Key takeaways from Ivanka Trump's court appearance are as follows:

Louis Solomon, an attorney general's office lawyer, questioned Ivanka Trump extensively over the financing of loans for the Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Florida through Deutsche Bank.

Because the loans required Donald Trump to provide yearly financial statements, which the attorney general claims were fabricated to increase Trump's net worth and secure better credit terms, the loans are a crucial component of the case.

As the guarantor, Donald Trump was obligated by the final terms of the Deutsche Bank loan to maintain a minimum net worth of $2.5 billion.

A previous version of the bank's proposed loan terms mandated that Trump keep his $3 billion net worth constant. In a court-produced email, Ivanka Trump suggested reducing the net worth threshold to $2 billion.

Trump declared his net worth as $4.2 billion in his 2011 financial status report.

Ivanka Trump said she was unaware of the reason why the penthouse apartment she rented from her father's Trump Park Avenue building was valued at almost $12 million higher than what she could afford to buy it for on Donald Trump's financial statement.

The attorney general's civil action states that although Ivanka Trump had a $8.5 million purchase option on the condo, the flat's worth was $20.8 million on Trump's financial statement.

Solomon questioned Ivanka Trump on whether her father's financial statement included the amount of her buy option.

“As I had told you a year-and-a-half ago, I wasn’t involved in his statement of financial condition, so I can’t say what it took into account or didn’t take into account,” Ivanka Trump responded.

Ivanka Trump said she was unaware of the reason why the penthouse apartment she rented from her father's Trump Park Avenue building was valued at almost $12 million higher than what she could afford to buy it for on Donald Trump's financial statement.

Ivanka Trump and her spouse Jared Kushner served as the president's top advisors in Donald Trump's White House.

They were both in the real estate industry before relocating to Washington. The pair did talk about work-related matters even though Kushner was not employed by the Trump Organisation.

“My husband also was in real estate and would have perspective for me so periodically we would discuss what we were working on specific to real estate,” she said when asked about the email.

In the attorney general's case against Trump and his companies, Ivanka Trump was the last of 25 witnesses—24 of whom testified in person.

The Trump family was summoned by the attorney general's office, along with former Trump Organisation executives Allen Weisselberg and Jeff McConney, who are co-defendants in the case, and other officials who worked on the projects at issue in the case.

On Monday, the Trump team will get the opportunity to present its case for the former president. During Trump's testimony earlier this week, his attorneys hinted that they planned to make a move for a mistrial, citing the judge's clerk's actions among other things.