In the ongoing $250 million civil tax fraud trial led by Attorney General Letitia James, Ivanka Trump, daughter of former US President Donald Trump, took the witness stand on Wednesday morning.
The trial aims to cancel Trump's business licenses in Manhattan and impose fines for alleged tax fraud.
During her testimony, Ivanka Trump asserted that she had no recollection of the emails purportedly sent by her to banks, including Deutsche Bank, requesting loans.
Her testimony marks her as the fourth member of the Trump family to appear before the court, following the testimonies of her father and two brothers earlier in the proceedings.
Ivanka was questioned about the Doral golf club near Miami, which she said was the family's goal to "reposition it as a luxury golf resort in south Florida," media reports said.
During the trial, Ivanka Trump was presented with an email dated 2011 related to Doral, which was addressed to Andrew Beal, the founder of Beal Bank.
"My father will also send you his most recent financial statements by hard mail," she had written.
Ivanka Trump asserted that she has no recollection of the mentioned email during the trial. Additionally, she was shown an email from Steve Harvey in the same year concerning Doral.
"I don't recall this email," she said.
During her testimony, Ivanka Trump claimed that she did not recall the interest rate in the attached term sheet or any other terms of the deal.
Described as fairly soft-spoken, she was asked twice by Judge Engoron to move closer to the microphone, smiling through most of her responses.
Her answers were deliberate and in full sentences, providing a contrast to her father's more meandering and incomplete thoughts, as reported by the UK's Independent.
Ivanka found herself on the witness stand in a lower Manhattan courtroom after exhausting all attempts to avoid testifying in a trial that poses a threat to her family's business and vast real-estate empire. Dressed in a dark suit, she entered the courtroom briskly, smiling.
As the final witness summoned by New York Attorney General Letitia James in the sixth week of the trial, Ivanka's appearance follows her brothers' testimonies and comes two days after her father's testimony, who was expected to be the concluding act for the Attorney General's case, as per CNN.
Expressing his frustration on Truth Social on Tuesday night, Donald Trump expressed his discontent with Ivanka being called to testify.
"Tomorrow my wonderful and beautiful daughter, Ivanka, is going to the Lower Manhattan Courthouse, at the direction of Letitia Peekaboo James, the corrupt and racist New York Attorney General, who has allowed murder and violent crime in New York to flourish, and a Trump hating, out of control Clubhouse-appointed Judge, Arthur Engoron," he ranted, before adding that it was "sad", Independent reported.
This comes after Trump's testimony on Monday, in which he lashed out at both Judge Arthur Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James, calling her a "political hack". The judge warned Trump to stop using the courtroom as a "political rally" and urged his attorney "to control him". He had also fined him $10,000 twice cumulatively for defying his gag orders and intimidating his court staff in social media.
The ongoing trial poses a significant threat to the Trump Organization, potentially jeopardizing the family's extensive business empire.
In a notable email presented in court from December 2011, Ivanka Trump communicated with Deutsche Bank executives, copying Jared Kushner, her husband and business partner. The email included an "investment memo" related to Doral.
"My father and I are very much looking forward to meeting with you to discuss Doral," Ivanka wrote.
The email also included "some basic information on our golf and hotel properties".
During the trial, Ivanka Trump stated that she does not recall the meeting mentioned in the email.
(With Agency Inputs)
