Live reporting on Ivanka Trump’s testimony from the BBC
I’ve been curating the BBC feed, choosing not to add much of the “analysis” portions, but this one adds a bit to our understanding …
Ivanka Trump, through her demeanour, is trying hard to look like a cooperative witness.
She’s smiling brightly, being courteous to the judge and court staff, and answering questions in an even tone.
At one point early in questioning, she joked that she couldn’t remember a call because it happened when she was nine months pregnant with her first child - more than 12 years ago.
But for such a high-ranking executive, her sudden amnesia on the stand is coming off as a calculated attempt to not give prosecutors any more ammunition.
Even when she’s presented with evidence, she says it doesn’t refresh her memory.
This is visibly frustrating prosecutors.
The prosecution starts with some easy questions, asking Ivanka Trump to recap her work history in regards to the Trump Organization.
She says that she briefly worked for a prominent New York City developer before joining “our family business”.
She says she "cut my teeth on various elements of the business”.
She rose through the company as she "proved myself… and was given more responsibilities”.
Ivanka eventually became an executive vice president like her brothers Eric and Don Jr, but left the Trump Organization role in 2017 when she joined her father in the White House.
Why the Attorney General wants to question Ivanka
Ivanka Trump was intimately involved in running her father’s business.
In particular, prosecutors say she took the lead on negotiating and securing financing with Deutsche Bank for properties including Trump Doral Golf Resort in Miami, Trump Chicago and the Old Post Office in Washington DC.
The interest rates on the loans were low because they required a personal guarantee from Trump and evidence of his liquidity and net worth.
Hence, prosecutors argue, Trump’s annual statement of financial condition were central to those loans and saved him more than $100m (£81.4m).
Donald Trump’s testimony was that the banks didn’t care about his statements, which he said included a “worthless clause” disclaimer.
Former NY federal prosecutor Kristy Greenberg says that Ivanka’s testimony could contradict that assertion.
She expects Ivanka will be asked many questions about her conservations with the banks and her family that led to securing those low rates.
The state has just called Ivanka Trump to the witness stand - who is not yet present in the courtroom.
Judge Engoron jokes: “Who is she?”
A few minutes later Ivanka shows up in court and is now being sworn in.
Prosecutors just showed Ivanka Trump a 2011 email she wrote to a person named Andy Beal of Beal Bank, with the subject line “Doral" - the golf club that Donald Trump built near Miami.
Ivanka acknowledged a few minutes ago she was very involved in the project.
She writes in the email that “my father” will send you “his most recent financial statement” by mail.
It’s likely prosecutors are trying to show she had knowledge of the statements of financial condition. These are documents they allege were fraudulently inflated to secure more favourable loans.
But Ivanka said the conversations were “brief” and did not proceed too far. She couldn’t remember if Beal had requested her father’s financial documents.
Ivanka Trump is speaking in hushed tones.
She seems to be choosing her words quite carefully - answering, for the most part, slowly and thoughtfully. She has punctuated some of her answers with a smile.
She is sitting upright with hands in her lap - looking attentively at whoever is speaking or at presented documents.
It’s a marked difference from her father’s testimony on Monday, when the former president was combative with the judge and prosecution team
As they did with her brothers, the attorney general’s office is showing Ivanka a series of emails meant to bolster their case. They ask if she recognises them.
Her responses so far have been variations on “I don’t recall” this email, or that she only recognises them because prosecutors showed them to her a year ago.
It’s a variation on Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump’s defence that they could not recall being involved with the matters under scrutiny by the AG’s office.
The court is taking a lunch break till 14:15 local time (19:15 GMT).
There’s just been a bit of an awkward moment here in court, between Donald Trump’s lawyer Chris Kise, prosecutor Lou Solomon, and Judge Engoron.
Solomon says he’s getting agitated that Ivanka Trump can’t seem to “recall” anything specific he asks about.
He says she can remember facts about Trump properties like his hotels, “but she has not answered one of my questions”.
Kise steps in to defend his client’s daughter, before the judge eventually says it might not be a good idea to have this conversation in front of the witness, Ivanka.
With that, Solomon continues with his questions.
The prosecution are now showing an email between Rosemary Vrablic - a former Deutsche Bank managing director - and Ivanka Trump. It’s about a Trump property in Chicago.
It reveals revised pricing for lower interest rates following a meeting. (It’s not specified if the meeting was between Vrablic and Ivanka.)
The email shows Ivanka writing “you are the best”, and later: “We all appreciate it”.
When asked about the exchange, Ivanka says she does not recall - but acknowledges she can see on the email where this is said.
Ivanka Trump has returned to court and taken the stand once more, after stepping away while the judge and lawyers argued about the relevance of some of the prosecution’s questioning.
“Sorry to have kept you in the dark,” the judge says to Ivanka as she returns.
The judge also briefly pokes fun at Kise - one of Donald Trump’s lawyers .
Kise had spoken about the Trump Organization’s remodel of the Old Post Office in Washington, DC, claiming the company turned a “hulking relic” into a “world-class facility”.
“You’re starting to sound like your client,” Engoron said, a reference to the former president, who spent much of his testimony on Monday boasting about his real estate.
Questioning has now resumed.
Ivanka Trump has stepped out for a quick break.
In her absence, the lawyers are arguing with the judge about whether some of the evidence being shown is outside the statute of limitations.
Judge Engoron keeps overruling the Trump team’s objections that they are. He’s using the break to explain his reasoning - that deals done in the past carry significance for future financials.
Chris Kise, Donald Trump’s lawyer, disagrees.
The prosecution also spells out their justifications for showing the documents leading up to the Deutsche Bank loans in this case.
Lou Solomon - of the prosecution - says they’re showing them as part of their case that the Trumps “induced Deutsche Bank to make loans they should not make at those rates”.
We’re back from a short break and the prosecutors are turning to term sheets for refinancing for the Trump Hotel in Chicago, which had both a hotel and commercial component.
Lou Solomon of the attorney general’s office is now showing a 2011 document with proposed terms of a loan from Deutsche Bank for the Doral golf course project in Florida.
The Trumps were seeking a personal wealth management loan, which comes with more favourable rates than commercial real estate loans.
The document states that Donald Trump is the guarantor for the proposed loan, and and that he had to maintain a minimum net worth.
Prosecutors then show an email from Ivanka Trump to then-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and others about the loan rates.
She wrote: “It doesn’t get better than this”.
Ivanka tells the court that she did not specifically recall writing or sending that email.
Under questioning, she also said she didn’t recall the proposal, or whether she thought it was good.
Ivanka Trump has been shown multiple documents and emails.
She has used a few variations of answers - either she does not recall, or “it appears so”.
Sometimes Ivanka mentions she recalls the state showing her these documents in previous meetings.
Judge Engoron at one point says: “That could have been a simple yes”.
Ivanka has also been asking to read the documents more than other witnesses were.
The prosecution has asked her if she has any reason to doubt the accuracy of the presented documents and emails. For the most part, she has said no.