Ivanka Trump takes witness stand to testify in father's fraud trial

Ivanka Trump was keen to distance herself from the alleged fraud at the centre of her father's lawsuit and repeatedly said she "couldn't recall" a number of key details, ITV News US Correspondent Dan Divers reports

Ivanka Trump was questioned about securing loans for her father’s property empire as she took the stand on Wednesday in the former president’s civil fraud trial.

Ahead of her testimony, New York Attorney General Letitia James said Ms Trump is "inextricably tied" to the Trump Organisation and the properties she helped secure.

She told reporters that Donald Trump's eldest daughter "secured and negotiated loans to obtain favourable terms based on fraudulent statements of financial condition".

Ms James added: “She will attempt today to distance herself from the company, but unfortunately, the facts will reveal that in fact she was very much involved."

The lawsuit claims that Mr Trump's asset values were fraudulently pumped up for years on annual “statements of financial condition” that helped him get loans and insurance.

ITV News US Correspondent Dan Rivers analyses Ivanka Trump's testimony in her father's civil fraud trial

The ex-president and Republican 2024 frontrunner denies any wrongdoing, as do the other defendants, his sons Eric and Don Jr.

In June Ms Trump, a former executive vice president at the family's Trump Organisation, was dismissed as a defendant by the New York appeals court, saying claims against her were too old.

However, she still faced difficult questions as a witness about her role in her father's real estate business.

“I don’t recall, with specificity, any discussion over financial statements,” testified Ms Trump, who has been in the former president's inner circle in both business and politics.

She said she didn't recall ever having provided asset valuation information for the statements or having reviewed them before they were finalised.

Ms Trump recalled being shown “a few documents and correspondence that referenced financial statements, but that was not something I was involved in.”

“Those were not things that I was privy too,” she testified while being asked about financial statements referencing some apartments that she had options to buy in a Trump-owned building on New York's Park Avenue.

State lawyers contend that Donald Trump was giving his daughter a steep discount on the apartments while claiming on his financial statements that they were worth far more.

Before leaving the company in 2017 to go with her father to the White House, Ms Trump was the point person in establishing a lending relationship with Deutsche Bank’s private wealth management arm.

It eventually extended the company hundreds of millions of dollars in loans, with terms that required Mr Trump to submit his financial statements each year.

As a Trump Organisation executive, Ms Trump dealt with securing a loan and a lease for a Washington hotel and financing for Doral in Florida and a hotel and condo skyscraper in Chicago, according to court filings.

Ms Trump testified that her husband, Jared Kushner, introduced her to a banker as the Trumps were seeking financing to buy and overhaul the Doral golf resort near Miami.

This was also among the properties for which the Attorney General alleges loans were extended in part due to Mr Trump's financial statements that inflated his assets, CNN reports.

Ms trump said she remembered a number of things about a 2011 meeting to pitch her family company's plan to redevelop a historic post office into a Washington, D.C. hotel.

She recalls discussion of the overall vision and the company's experience, her father talking up his renovation of New York's famous Plaza Hotel.

When pressed on how she could remember talk of the Plaza but not of the financial documents — despite documents showing they'd spurred questions before the meeting from officials overseeing the post office bidding — she explained that “the intention of the meeting was to talk about our vision for the project, so that’s what I recall”.

Ms Trump's attorneys contended that she shouldn't have to testify. They said the state was just trying to harass the family by dragging her into court. Judge Arthur Engoron and, later, an appeals court ruled that she had to testify.

The stakes for Mr Trump are high, as Ms James is seeking to impose a penalty of $250 million and to bar him from doing business in New York State.

Mr Trump insisted in court on Monday that his financial statements greatly underestimated his net worth, that any discrepancies were minor, that a disclaimer absolved him of liability and that “this case is a disgrace".

During the opening session, the former president's lawyers were told to get control of their client, as he was scolded about the length and content of his answers. At one point, Judge Arthur Engoron said: "We don't have time to waste. We have one day to do this."

The non-jury trial will decide allegations of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records — but the judge has already resolved the lawsuit's top claim by ruling that Trump engaged in fraud.

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, at least for now.

Don Jr and Eric Trump are still Trump Organisation executive vice presidents and they became trustees of a trust set up to run the company when their father went to the White House. The sons also have professed minimal knowledge of their father's annual financial statements.

Donald Trump Jr testified that he dealt with the documents only in passing; Eric Trump said he relied completely on accountants and lawyers to ensure the documents' accuracy.

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