Ivanka Trump finds herself in an 'uncomfortable place' as she gets dragged back into her father's drama
Alex Wong
- Ivanka Trump tried to distance herself from her father's scandals after he left the White House.
- But on Wednesday she will testify in his fraud trial.
- Donald Trump is the GOP 2024 frontrunner, but is mired in legal troubles.
Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump's eldest daughter, has made every effort to distance herself from her father's political and financial scandals since he left the White House in 2021.
But on Wednesday, she'll be dragged back into his drama when she takes the stand to testify in her father's New York civil fraud trial.
"There's no way that she walks out of this trial further distanced from the controversies surrounding her father," Dan Alexander, author of 'White House, Inc: How Donald Trump Turned the Presidency Into a Business', told BBC News.
"It's going to be an uncomfortable place for her, and I don't think that reputationally, it's the direction that she wants to go."
Ivanka Trump was a prominent member of her father's administration after his shock election in 2016. Before that she was an executive in his company, The Trump Organization, so has long been closely involved in his political and business careers.
The former president appointed her as a White House advisor, with a focus on women in business. Meanwhile, her husband, Jared Kushner, was tasked with solving everything from Middle East peace to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the final months of the administration, she kept a low profile amid reports she was considered a pariah in the New York high society circles she'd once frequented.
Congressional testimony by Michael Cohen in 2019, who was Trump's former lawyer and fixer, alleged that Trump had a history of misrepresenting the value of assets.
New York Attorney General, Letitia James, cited that testimony as the reason her office was probing Trump over his financial statements. She accuses Trump, along with his sons Eric and Donald Jr, of misrepresenting company assets. All deny wrongdoing.
After the calamitous end to her father's presidency, when a mob of his supporters attacked Congress on January 6, 2021, Ivanka Trump sought to distance herself from her father's political career, announcing last year that she would not be taking part in his campaign to win back the presidency in 2024.
She's not taken a role in his campaign and lives in an exclusive Miami enclave with her husband and children.
Morry Gash/AP Photo
But on Wednesday she'll become the fourth member of her family to testify to allegations that Trump falsely inflated business assets as part of a fraud scheme.
Taking to Truth Social on Tuesday night, Trump was angered about Ivanka taking the stand.
"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 State 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 said.
She had initially been charged with the same crimes as her father, but the accusations were dismissed on appeal, and instead, she's expected to be questioned about her knowledge of how her father's company valued assets when she was serving as an executive.
Donald Trump has denied the fraud accusations leveled against him, claiming the charges are politically motivated.
He said in court Monday that his financial statements underestimated his net worth and that a disclaimer absolved him of liability.
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