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.

New York Attorney General Letitia James departs from the New York State Supreme Court following Wednesday's proceedings.

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.

Ivanka Trump departs from court after testifying on Wednesday.

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

Former President Donald Trump plays golf at Trump National Doral ahead of a LIV Golf event in October 2022.

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 and her husband Jared Kushner stand on the tarmac at Joint Based Andrews in Maryland in January 2021.

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.

Ivanka Trump and Jared 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.

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.

In this court sketch, Louis Solomon, a lawyer for the attorney general's office, questions Ivanka Trump on the witness stand during Wednesday's proceedings.

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