09 November 2023 , 00:08
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Ivanka Trump testified in her father's civil fraud case in New York, claiming to have had minimal knowledge of financials when she was an executive vice president at the Trump Organization.
The 42-year-old is currently locked in a non-jury trial brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James - who wants the defendants to fork over what she claims is more than $300 million in ill-gotten gains and to be banned from doing business in New York.
Ivanka cut an elegant figure as she entered court decked out in expensive designer garb, including a blue Carolina Herrera coat, Jimmy Choo heels, and a Chanel bag. While Trump's eldest daughter is expected to take questions about the acquisition of loans when she was the Trump Organization's executive vice president, body language expert Judi James told the Mirror her gestures differed hugely from that of her brother Trump Jr and father, Donald Trump, who appeared in court earlier this week.
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Judi James told The Mirror: "While her father and her brother have both emerged from court displaying the most active and emotional body language signals that have ranged from naked fury to grinning bravado, Ivanka seems to have been able to retain a bland facial expression that entails a polite part-smile, and worn it frozen into place going in and out of court.
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"Her eye expression might hold enough hints of vulnerability to stoke her father’s fury at seeing her go through the ordeal but her back remains straight and her neck is held in a firm position to suggest resilience in the actual courtroom and no sign of having been broken by the experience."
Ivanka was unsuccessful in an attempt to claim she is too busy to testify this week (Getty Images)Ivanka was unsuccessful in an attempt to claim she is too busy to testify this week. Ivanka's lawyers said that Ivanka "who resides in Florida with her three minor children, will suffer undue hardship if a stay is denied and she is required to testify at trial in New York in the middle of a school week, in a case she has already been dismissed from, before her appeal is heard."
Her lawyer, Bennet Moskowitz, told the judge Friday that state lawyers “just don’t have jurisdiction over her.” One of Donald Trump's attorneys, Christopher Kise, maintained that state lawyers “just want another free-for-all on another of President Trump’s children.”
The case brought last September by New York Attorney General Letitia James, accuses Trump, his eldest sons and his family business of inflating Trump's net worth by more than $2 billio (Peter Foley/UPI/REX/Shutterstock)“The idea that somehow Ms. Trump is under the control of the Trump Organization or any of the defendants, her father - anyone who has raised a daughter past the age of 13 knows that they’re not under their control,” Kise said.
The non-jury trial will decide allegations of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records — but Judge Arthur Engoron already has 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.
Ivanka Trump appears to testify in court for the ongoing civil fraud case against her father (Andrea Renault/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock)“I don’t, specifically, know what was prepared on his behalf for him as a person, separate and distinct from the organization and the properties that I was working on,” Ivanka said during sworn questioning for the investigation that eventually led to the lawsuit. She said she didn't know who prepared the statements or how the documents were compiled.
The former president is said to be irked that his children have been made to testify to the Manhattan court - Ivanka will follow already-given testimony from Eric and Donald Jr. An insider source has told a US publication Trump is "upset and agitated" that his "children have been dragged into court." The source said: "He feels it’s another move to upset him... He’s p****d."