Ivanka Trump has been quite clear about being as far away as possible from her father Donald Trump’s endeavors since she quit his campaign and company back in 2017. The socialite claimed she wanted to spend quality time with her family and was living a rather quiet life away from the world of politics. Recently, the politician’s daughter was called to testify at her dad’s Civil Fraud Case Trial earlier this week on Wednesday. The socialite was asked to recall instances from her time at her dad’s The Trump Organization company while she was an Executive Vice President. But, it appears she didn’t have much to add to the matter.
According to BBC , Ivanka was the fourth member of the Trump family to have taken the stand. Prior members include her father and brothers Eric and Donald Trump Jr. While all three members of the Trump family strongly denied any allegations against them, Ivanka’s response was rather unique. She claimed to not recollect what her prosecutors were addressing. As per sources, her demeanor was recorded as calm, composed, and clear-headed with no hint of temper. She refrained from using any form of negativity while testifying unlike her dad, and was quite calm during her exchange with Judge Arthur Engoron and General Attorney Letitia James.
Circling back to her testimony, Ivanka was cross-examined by prosecutor Lou Solomon from James’ council. Solomon’s strategy appeared to be probing for an answer about Ivanka’s knowledge concerning her dad’s financial records. Throughout her four-hour-long testimony, Ivanka responded to Solomon’s questions with, “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember”. For instance, Solomon asked, “Did you have any roles in preparing Donald J Trump’s statements of financial condition?” To this rather straightforward question, Ivanka nonchalantly replied, “Not that I’m aware of.”
Solomon asked once more using a different approach, “Did you ever review any of Donald J Trump’s statements of financial condition before they were finalized?” Being firm in her response Ivanka said, “I don’t recall.” Before reaching this stage of questioning, Ivanka was asked about a phone call that happened a long while back. Being aware of the timeline, Ivanka claimed jokingly that there wasn’t a way she’d recollect the exact contents of a conversation that took place 12 years ago. The one thing she did mention though was that she was 9 months pregnant when she got the call.
BREAKING NEWS: Ivanka Trump asks to pause the NY fraud trial, says her testimony during a “school week” creates an “undue hardship.” As always, Ivanka has her finger on the pulse of the hardships faced by America’s working men and women. Who among us isn’t reluctant to leave… pic.twitter.com/54XZgRaNEe
— Mary L Trump (@MaryLTrump) November 2, 2023
Eric Chaffee, an expert on White Collar Crimes who is also a professor at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio expressed his thoughts on Ivanka’s testimony upon reflection. He said, “I think that the use of this defense is significant.”
Today, we called our last witness, Ivanka Trump, who used Donald Trump’s fraudulent statements of financial condition to secure more favorable loans. For the past five weeks, we’ve shown the incredible scale and scope of Donald Trump’s fraud and how he used it to enrich himself. pic.twitter.com/4Pmdz2BSaW
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) November 8, 2023
He further explained, “Ms. Trump’s repeated assertion of not recalling instances and documents could end up being truthful.” In addition, this manner of defense would also enable her to protect her reputation and may even offer an advantage to her father’s case.