Ivanka Trump Testifies in Father's New York Fraud Case
It was former first daughter Ivanka Trump’s turn on the witnesses stand Wednesday in her father’s trial for fraud in New York City.
But according to a list of “highlights” of her testimony collected by CNN, most of what she had to say consisted of “I don’t remember.”
In fairness, Ivanka Trump isn’t a co-defendant with former President Donald Trump in the case because a state court earlier found that the statute of limitations for any accusations she might have faced had expired — in other words, because the events happened so long ago, that they might be difficult to remember.
For example, at one point in her testimony, Ivanka Trump was asked whether she forwarded statements about her father’s financial position to Beal Bank because bank officials had asked for them, or if she simply “offered” them to the bank. She couldn’t recall.
According to the attorney general’s case, Donald Trump committed fraud because he inflated his net worth on those and similar statements in order to obtain better loan terms from Deutsche Bank to purchase and develop the Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Florida, as well as other properties.
One expert witness, according to CNN, testified that Donald Trump had saved $168 million, presumably in interest payments, by obtaining the preferred terms.
At the time, the Doral property had been put up for sale due to bankruptcy, CNN said.
One thing Ivanka Trump did recall was being nine months pregnant with her first child when she received a call about it.
She also recalled at least some aspects of statements she had made to the attorney general’s office as long as 18 months ago. She was asked, for example, whether the $2o.8 million purchase offer on a Trump Park Avenue penthouse apartment had been figured in to Donald Trump’s statement of net worth.
“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 told attorney Louis Solomon in response.
At one point in her testimony, Solomon showed an email in which Ivanka Trump had suggested lowering the total net worth her father would have to maintain in order to qualify for a Deutsche Bank loan. The bank had originally said that requirement would be $3 billion, Ivanka Trump suggested $2 billion, and the parties eventually agreed on a figure of $2.5 billion.
At the time, Donald Trump’s net worth was about $4.2 billion, according to his documents.
How that testimony was in any way indicative of fraud or attempted fraud, CNN failed to suggest in its reporting.
Ivanka Trump also testified about a meeting in 2011 about an attempt by the Trump Organization to secure a lease on the Old Post Office building from the General Services Administration in Washington, D.C.
“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, explaining that the meeting was too high-level for such detail. “Not financial statements or anything granular like that,” she said.
Ivanka Trump was scheduled to be the final witness called by the attorney general’s office. After her cross-examination by the defense, Donald Trump’s team will begin to present its case, which is largely expected to center on the fact that there were no actual victims of his supposed crimes, as the bank loans were all repaid and, in fact, wished to do more business with the Trump Organization.
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