Ivanka Trump’s testimony in New York civil fraud trial

Ivanka Trump’s appearance Wednesday was the highly anticipated conclusion to an unprecedented eight days of witness testimony that included Donald Trump and three of his adult children in the civil fraud trial brought by the New York attorney general’s office.

The AG’s office rested its case after hearing from the eldest Trump daughter, who was pressed about her role securing loans for the Trump Organization and a penthouse apartment she leased from her father.

Her appearance was not anywhere near as contentious as her father’s on Monday – there were no fireworks or angry outbursts.

The top lines:

Read more takeaways from Ivanka Trump’s testimony in the New York fraud trial.

Ivanka Trump was “cordial” and “very courteous,” but the New York attorney general questioned the credibility of her testimony Wednesday.

“Ivanka Trump was cordial, she was disciplined, she was controlled and she was very courteous but her testimony raises questions with regards to its credibility, which will be a question for the finding of fact,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said outside court.

“The reality is, is that based on the evidence, the documentary evidence, she clearly was involved in negotiating and securing loans, favorable loans, for the benefit of the Trump Organization, for Mr. Trump and her brothers and for herself,” James said.

“At the end of the day, this case is about fraudulent statements of financial condition that she benefitted from, she was enriched. And clearly you cannot distance yourself from that fact. The documents do not lie. The numbers do not lie,” James added.

“And despite the fact that she was very, very nice, very friendly, the facts, basically, demonstrate the truth.”

The NY attorney general’s office has rested its civil case against former President Donald Trump, his adult sons Donald Jr. and Eric, and their company. 

The trial has spanned nearly six weeks so far with testimony from a total of 25 witnesses – 24 of which were in person.

Ivanka Trump was the last witness called before the attorney general’s office rested its case. She followed testimony from her father and her brothers Donald Jr. and Eric.

Judge Arthur Engoron had already ruled before the start of the trial that Donald Trump and his co-defendants committed “persistent and repeated” fraud.

The judge is now considering how much the Trumps will have to pay in damages for the profits they’ve allegedly garnered through fraudulent business practices, including inflating Donald Trump’s worth on financial statements.

The attorney general is seeking to prove six additional claims, including falsifying business records, issuing false financial statements and insurance fraud.

The attorney general is also seeking to ban the Trumps from doing business in New York.

The trial has seen a slew of fireworks, including the judge imposing two fines on Donald Trump totaling $15,000 for violating his gag order forbidding anyone from commenting about his staff. The former president had repeatedly criticized Engoron’s law clerk.

Donald Trump attended court a total of seven days, where he attacked New York Attorney General Letitia James, the judge, and the case against him.

He did the same when he took the stand earlier this week with lengthy speeches during his testimony that sparked multiple admonishments from the judge.

Trump’s attorneys are set to begin their defense on Monday and indicated they would finish by mid-December.

Cross-examination has ended for witness Ivanka Trump in the civil fraud trial against her father, brothers and Trump Org.

Ivanka Trump said her family’s vision for the renovation of the Doral golf resort in Florida was shared with Deutsche Bank in the negotiations process for the funding.

“They were quite excited about it,” she said of Deutsche Bank. “They sent teams of people down to tour the property to visit the property and to experience it in advance of our purchase.”

Donald Trump had a “sentimental affection” for the Doral property in Florida, his daughter said. He would tell her stories about going there as a child with his father and later with her mother, Ivana.

He had “a strong feeling that it was not being – living up to its potential in terms of what the asset had become,” Ivanka Trump said.

Trump lawyer Jesus Suarez showed the court an email Rosemary Vrablic, a former managing director in Deutsche Bank’s private wealth management division, sent to Ivanka Trump in March 2013 after renovations to the Doral property.

“I am so glad we got to see you and have you show us the new rooms. They look amazing! I have had a wonderful time here and it is really impressive to see what you have accomplished so quickly,” Vrablic wrote.

After the renovations, Deutsche Bank agreed to a step down in the guaranty Donald Trump secured on the loan.

Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers began their cross-examination of Ivanka Trump by walking through how the banks were happy loaning money to the Trump Organization.

The line of questioning signals how Trump’s team plans to take on its defense against the attorney general’s allegations – arguing there were no victims in this case and the banks were repaid.

Trump lawyer Jesus Suarez reviewed exchanges between Ivanka Trump and Rosemary Vrablic, a former managing director in Deutsche Bank’s private wealth management division, asking Ivanka Trump about how Vrablic and Deutsche Bank were excited to have Trump Org. as a client.

“Yes, she expressed tremendous excitement to have our account,” Ivanka Trump said of Vrablic, the main banker on their account. “I was constantly being told by Rosemary and members of the team how much they appreciated our account.” 

Ivanka Trump recalled a 2013 meeting she attended with her father and the co-chair of Deutsche Bank, Anshu Jain. Ivanka Trump said it was like a sales meeting, with the co-chairman of the global German bank encouraging the Trumps to do more business with them.

Ivanka Trump testified about the positive relationship she cultivated with the private wealth management group at Deutsche Bank, and how the bank expressed its desire to do more business with Trump Org.

The New York attorney general’s office has ended its questioning of Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of former President Donald Trump.

She is now being cross-examined by Trump attorney Jesus Suarez.

Ivanka Trump would often discuss real estate business with her husband Jared Kushner, she said in response to questions Wednesday about emails on funding for the Trump Organization’s Old Post Office project in Washington.

“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,” Ivanka Trump said when asked why she sent Kushner an email about potential Old Post Office funding for the Trump Organization.

In the an email thread, Ivanka Trump and Kushner discussed potential funding terms from Capital One for the Old Post Office project in Washington, DC, that turned into the Trump International Hotel in 2016. Kushner said he could show the deal to Natixis, an investment bank, because he thought they’d give Trump Org. better terms.

Before breaking for lunch, Trump’s defense lawyers objected to questions about the email, arguing spousal privilege between Ivanka Trump and Kushner. The attorney general’s team said the email exchange was handed over by Trump Org. during discovery and should be fair game, and Judge Arthur Engoron said he would consider the matter during the court’s lunch break. When court reconvened in the afternoon, Engoron said he would allow the email to be included because it was from business emails.

Both Ivanka Trump and Kushner would later work in the White House after Donald Trump took office in 2017.

The attorney general’s office filed a letter with the judge asking to be heard Thursday on motion’s to block several of Trump’s expert witnesses from testifying.

Lawyers with the attorney general’s office said several of the witnesses’ testimony relates to issues already resolved by Judge Arthur Engoron, specifically as it relates to how properties were valued and accounting rules associated with that.

Before the trial started the judge found Trump’s financial statements to be fraudulent.

“The valuation and accounting issues raised in this case with respect to the preparation of the SFCs have already been resolved in Plaintiff’s favor by the Court on summary judgment,” the attorneys wrote.

In addition, they argue that two of the witnesses should precluded from testifying since they were intended to rebut the testimony of experts the attorney general’s office did not call.

Ivanka Trump spent roughly two hours on the witness stand Wednesday in her father’s civil fraud trial, answering questions about her role at the Trump Organization and an apartment she leased in one of her father’s buildings.

The former president’s daughter is no longer a defendant in the case, but she is the final witness the New York attorney general’s office plans to call in its case against Trump, his sons and his business.

The trial is currently in a lunch break.

Here are highlights from her testimony so far:

Questions about financing loans through Deutsche Bank: She was questioned at length about the financing of loans for the Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Florida through Deutsche Bank.

The loans are a key part of the case because they required Trump to submit annual financial statements – and the attorney general alleges those statements were falsified to inflate Trump’s net worth and obtain better loan rates.

AG attorney Louis Solomon showed email communications Ivanka Trump had in shopping around potential financing terms from several lenders to fund Trump Org. for the Doral property. Donald Trump’s financial statements were shared with some of the potential lenders.

Louis Solomon, a lawyer for the attorney general’s office, showed emails during questioning where Ivanka Trump proposed lowering the required net worth for her father under the loan agreement with Deutsche Bank. 

The final agreement for the Deutsche Bank loan required Donald Trump, as the guarantor, to maintain a minimum net worth of $2.5 billion.

One earlier draft of the loan terms proposed by the bank required Trump maintain a $3 billion net worth. Ivanka Trump proposed a change to lower the net worth requirement to $2 billion, in an email Solomon showed in court.

Penthouse apartment: She distanced herself from any knowledge of a discrepancy in the value of a penthouse apartment she leased in Trump Park Avenue.

Ivanka Trump had a purchase option on the apartment for $8.5 million, but the value on Trump’s financial statement was $20.8 million, according to the attorney general’s civil complaint.

Solomon asked whether the value of her purchase option was factored into her father’s financial statement.

“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,” she responded.

Old Post Office project: She acknowledged the General Services Administration asked for “clarification on several matters” about Donald Trump’s financial statements submitted with a bid for the lease on the Old Post Office in Washington.

Ivanka Trump said she recalled going to Washington to make a presentation to GSA on Trump Org. proposal for the building. 

She and her father both spoke at the presentation meeting with GSA officials, she said.

“Do you recall that meeting discussing Donald J. Trump financial statements in any way shape or form?” Solomon asked.

“No I don’t recall that,” she said.

Ivanka Trump said she recalled the December 2011 meeting was a big-picture presentation “bringing the project to life.”

“Not financial statements or anything granular like that,” she said

Ivanka Trump was excused from the witness stand briefly while Trump attorney Chris Kise argued over the relevance of evidence and lines of questioning about prospective financing terms that were never completed.

Kise is also arguing about the statute of limitations — much of what has been raised today is prior to 2014.

It’s not uncommon for a witness to be excused during lengthy objections about what will be allowed in court, so as not to prejudice the witness’ testimony. 

Judge Arthur Engoron overruled the Trump team objections. He ruled the New York attorney general’s can ask questions and use evidence outside the statute of limitations to establish the original loan for background purposes because the loans at issue required annual certified financial statements be submitted in the years after the loan transactions and those fall within the statute of limitations.

After the discussion, Ivanka Trump returned to the stand.

When she sat down, Engoron looked at her and said, “sorry to have kept you in the dark.” She laughed and said “that’s okay.”

Louis Solomon, a lawyer for the New York attorney general, showed emails during questioning of Ivanka Trump where she proposed lowering the required net worth for her father under a loan agreement with Deutsche Bank. 

The final agreement for the Deutsche Bank loan required Donald Trump, as the guarantor, to maintain a minimum net worth of $2.5 billion.

One earlier draft of the loan terms proposed by the bank required Trump maintain a $3 billion net worth. Ivanka Trump proposed a change to lower the net worth requirement to $2 billion, in an email Solomon showed in court.

At the time, Trump’s net worth on his statement of his financial condition in 2011 was $4.2 billion.

The loan terms are significant because the attorney general alleges that Trump’s falsified financial statements allowed him to obtain better loan rates – an expert witness for the attorney general testified earlier in the trial Trump’s “ill-gotten gains” from the fraud totaled $168 million.

Trump was able to get better terms for the Doral property with Deutsche Bank’s loan secured by Trump’s financial statements because he personally guaranteed the loans with the private wealth management group, which offered the option for a high net worth individual to back the loan.

Trump Org. was offered different terms through Deutsche Bank’s commercial real estate arm for the same property.

Ivanka Trump distanced herself from knowing anything about a discrepancy in the value of a penthouse apartment in one of her father’s Manhattan buildings that she leased.

Louis Solomon, a lawyer for the attorney general, asked if there had been a purchase option on her penthouse apartment at Trump Park Avenue for $8.5 million. She confirmed there was.

The value of the apartment on Trump’s statement of financial condition, however, was $20.8 million, according to the attorney general’s civil complaint.

Solomon asked whether the value of her purchase option was factored into her father’s financial statement.

“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.

Solomon also went through a series of questions about Donald Trump’s statements of financial condition. Ivanka Trump said in response that she was not involved in preparing her father’s personal statements, was not aware of ever helping in asset valuations and does not recall ever reviewing them. 

The New York attorney general’s office walked Ivanka Trump through her role securing financing for the Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Florida.

AG attorney Louis Solomon showed email communications Ivanka Trump had in shopping around potential financing terms from several lenders to fund Trump Org. for the Doral property.

Donald Trump’s financial statements were shared with some of the potential lenders.

Trump attorney Chris Kise objected to the admission of documents related to potential funding that never went through in relation to the Doral property, calling it irrelevant.

Engoron disagreed and overruled the objection.

In an August 2011 email shown in court, Ivanka Trump told an executive at Beal Bank that her father’s financial statements were being sent in the mail for their review.

She was asked by Solomon whether the bank had requested Trump’s financials or if she offered them. Ivanka Trump said she did not recall.

They never got to the term sheet phase of negotiations with that bank, she said.

The Doral property is one of several Trump Organization properties that were secured with loans from Deutsche Bank. The attorney general alleges that the loans for Doral were extended in part because of Trump’s personal financial statements that inflated his assets.

Some of the emails were presented earlier at trial through a former Trump Org. executive David Orowitz, who was also involved in the Doral project.

The attorney general’s team has argued these discussions show the whole picture – that the Trump Org. ultimately got the most favorable loan terms through Deutsche Bank because Trump personally guaranteed the loans through the private wealth management group.

When Solomon began questions on Doral, Ivanka Trump recalled, seemingly nostalgic with a smile, that she was nine months pregnant with her oldest child, when she got the call about the Doral property that was for sale in bankruptcy proceedings.

CNN’s Paula Reid reports:

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02:18 - Source: cnn

The New York attorney general’s office began questioning of Ivanka Trump Wednesday asking about her background in business and the work she did for the Trump Organization.

Ivanka Trump said that she spent much of her time at the Trump Organization working on development for the Old Post Office in Washington, DC, which was converted into a hotel, and the Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Florida.

Being questioned by Louis Solomon, a lawyer for the attorney general’s office, Ivanka Trump confirmed she received a profit from the 2022 sale of the Old Post Office building.

She said she doesn’t believe she received any compensation from Trump Org. entities since she left in 2017, when she went to Washington to work in the White House, other than the proceeds from the Old Post Office sale and a fixed income amount from a consulting entity within the company.

Her husband Jared Kushner introduced her to a banker, Rosemary Vrablic, in the Private Wealth Management group of Deutsche Bank around 2011 or 2012, she said.

This connection led to the loans at issue in this case for Doral and the Old Post Office, as well as a Chicago property, which her father Donald Trump personally guaranteed with his financial statements the judge has ruled were fraudulent.

Unlike on days when Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump testified, there were no cameras allowed in at the beginning of the session to take pictures of Ivanka Trump in the actual courtroom.

Those photos and videos showed the Trumps sitting at the defense table before taking the stand.

Ivanka Trump was previously dismissed as a defendant, however, so she went directly to the witness stand as any other witness on the trial would, so cameras were not brought in.

Video cameras and photographs have been prohibited while the trial is taking place.  

Ivanka Trump is now on the stand in the New York civil fraud trial against her father and his company.

The New York civil fraud trial against Donald Trump, his eldest sons, their companies and Trump Organization executives continues Wednesday with testimony from Ivanka Trump.

The civil trial about inflated assets in fraudulent financial statements started last month just after a shocking ruling by Judge Arthur Engoron at the end of September that found Trump and his co-defendants are liable for “persistent and repeated” fraud.

Trump inflated his net worth by as much as $3.6 billion in three separate years between 2011 and 2021, according to the attorney general’s office. Attorneys for Trump have refuted the claims, arguing that asset valuations are highly subjective and that they are still sorting through what the ruling means for the company’s future.

What’s at stake at trial: Trump and his companies could be forced to pay hefty sums in damages for the profits they’ve allegedly garnered through their fraudulent business practices. 

Engoron will consider just how much the Trumps and their businesses will have to pay. 

Since Engoron has already ruled on one of the claims — persistent and repeated fraud —he will now decide on the six other claims:

The New York attorney general is seeking to bar Trump from doing business in the state and to dissolve his companies.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said Ivanka Trump is “inextricably tied” to the Trump Organization and the properties she helped secure financing for ahead of her testimony Wednesday. 

Ivanka Trump will be the last witness in the attorney general’s case in direct, James said outside the courthouse Wednesday.

“Ivanka Trump secured, negotiated loans to obtain favorable terms based on fraudulent statements of financial condition,” James said. “She will attempt today to distance herself from the company, but unfortunately, the facts will reveal that in fact she was very much involved.”

Ivanka Trump was previously dismissed as a co-defendant in the New York case against former President Donald Trump, two of his adult sons and his company.

Ivanka Trump is taking the stand Wednesday as the last witness before the prosecution rests its case in the New York civil fraud trial against her father and his company.

It comes after she withdrew her appeal of a judge’s order requiring her to testify at her father’s civil fraud trial last week after an appellate court refused to pause her testimony.

Ivanka Trump was previously dismissed as a co-defendant in the New York case against former President Donald Trump, two of his adult sons and his company. Multiple attempts by her legal team to delay her testimony have been rebuffed.

Last week, an appeals court denied Ivanka Trump’s request to postpone her testimony until her lawyers could make arguments before the panel that she shouldn’t be required to appear. She had also asked the court to pause the entire fraud trial.

The former president’s eldest daughter had claimed she would suffer “undue hardship” if she were made to testify during the school week, as she lives in Florida with three minor children. Her team has also argued that the New York civil court has no jurisdiction to compel her testimony since she is no longer a defendant in the lawsuit and does not live in New York state. New York Judge Arthur Engoron previously rejected those arguments.

Her attorneys, in dropping the appeal Friday, said it is now “moot” because she is scheduled to testify on Wednesday before she can make her legal arguments.

Ivanka Trump’s brothers, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, appeared in court last week. Both men helped run the Trump Organization while their father was in the White House.

 Ivanka Trump has arrived at court in New York.

She is expected to testify in former president Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial as the final witness for the New York attorney general’s office.

Court resumes at 10 a.m. ET.

Donald Trump brought bombastic rhetoric to the witness stand Monday in the civil fraud case against him and his business – as he spent his time on the stand attacking the New York attorney general who brought the case and the judge overseeing the trial itself.

Trump’s testimony at times mimicked his appearances on the campaign trail, where the former president has made the four criminal cases against him — along with the New York attorney general’s civil fraud case — a central part of his argument to be elected president again in 2024.

Judge Arthur Engoron, who has clashed with Trump throughout the trial, at first tried to stop the former president’s political barbs and speechifying, telling his lawyer Chris Kise to “control your client” and threatening to have Trump removed as a witness. Eventually, the judge stopped trying to control Trump — he and the attorney general’s lawyer questioning Trump let him rant, and then mostly disregarded the missives.

The high-stakes civil case strikes at the heart of Trump’s brand — his real estate empire. New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing Trump for $250 million and seeking to bar him from doing business in the state. Engoron has already ruled Trump and his co-defendants were liable for fraud. The New York attorney general’s office said it will rest its case after Ivanka Trump’s testimony on Wednesday.

Here are some of the key takeaways from Trump’s day on the stand:

Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump is testifying Wednesday in the former president’s civil fraud trial as the final witness for the New York attorney general’s office.

While Ivanka Trump is no longer a defendant in Attorney General Letitia James’ case after an appellate court removed her as a defendant earlier this year, she is still likely to be pressed about her role securing financing for properties when she worked at the Trump Organization, as well as the valuation of an apartment she leased in one of her father’s Manhattan buildings.

Her testimony comes after her father’s Monday appearance on the witness stand, in which the former president badgered the judge and the attorney general with political attacks that frequently irked Judge Arthur Engoron.

There may not be as many fireworks with Ivanka Trump’s appearance Wednesday, but there has been plenty of drama surrounding her testimony. She had filed a motion to quash the subpoena requiring her testimony, but Engoron ruled she was required to testify. An appellate court denied her motion for a stay, despite her saying it would be difficult to appear during a school week.

Ivanka Trump’s brothers, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., who are co-defendants in the case, testified last week.

Here’s what to watch for during her testimony:

Ivanka Trump is knowledgeable about allegations included in the civil fraud trial, where the attorney general is seeking $250 million in damages and to bar Trump from doing business in the state.

She worked at the Trump Organization as an executive before moving to the White House as a senior aide along with her husband, Jared Kushner, in 2017.

The initial lawsuit filed by the attorney general last September pointed to Ivanka Trump’s involvement in securing a loan for purchasing Trump’s Doral golf course in Florida and Chicago properties in 2012, which the attorney general alleges were extended in part because of Trump’s personal financial statements that inflated his assets.

“On each of those transactions with Deutsche Bank, Ms. Trump was aware that the transactions included a personal guaranty from Mr. Trump that required him to provide annual Statements of Financial Condition and certifications,” the complaint states.

Trump was asked Monday to verify that he signed those loan agreements and he understood they included clauses requiring a minimum net worth and annual financial statements.

Ivanka was also involved in the bidding on the Old Post Office in Washington, DC, which Trump converted to a hotel before selling the property last year.

Read more about the Trump civil fraud trial here.

Former President Donald Trump has complained repeatedly that the civil trial in New York, where he’s accused of business fraud, does not have a jury — and the fate of the case is up to Judge Arthur Engoron.

Trump’s lawyers say the New York state law that state Attorney General Letitia James used to bring the complaint against him — a civil statute giving the state attorney general wide latitude to go after “persistent fraud” in business — did not allow him to request a jury trial.

But legal experts familiar with New York state law say that the question of whether Trump could have sought a jury trial is complicated. While Trump may not have been likely to succeed, experts said the question of a jury trial is something that Trump’s lawyers could have tried to litigate.

“It’s not entirely clear whether Trump would have been entitled to a jury trial under New York law – that would depend on nuanced legal determinations about the nature of the remedy sought by the attorney general,” said Elie Honig, a CNN senior legal analyst and former federal and New Jersey prosecutor. “But Trump’s legal team absolutely could have requested a jury, litigated the issue, and then appealed had they lost.”

At the start of the trial, Engoron noted that no parties in the case requested a jury trial and that the law mandated a “bench trial” decided by a judge.

“You have probably noticed or already read that this case has no jury,” Engoron said. “Neither side asked for one and, in any event, the remedies sought are all equitable in nature, mandating that the trial be a bench trial, one that a judge alone decides.”

Trump’s lawyers have pushed back on the notion that they failed to request a jury trial, as some have suggested based on paperwork filed in the case.

“Under 63 (12), which is what this case is, you don’t have a right, an absolute right to a jury,” Trump lawyer Alina Habba said on Fox News previously.

A Trump spokesperson said that the attorney general “filed this case under a consumer protection statute that denies the right to a jury.”

“There was never an option to choose a jury trial,” the spokesperson said. “It is unfortunate that a jury won’t be able to hear how absurd the merits of this case are and conclude no wrongdoing ever happened.”

In other legal cases that the former president has faced, however, Trump and his attorneys have lamented that he is unable to receive a fair verdict from a jury in New York. After a New York jury found that Trump sexually abused E. Jean Carroll in 1996, attorney Joe Tacopina said that Trump is “firm in his belief” that he cannot get a fair trial in New York City “based on the jury pool.”

Learn more.