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By Kate Plummer
Senior US News Reporter
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Ivanka Trump could throw her father, Donald Trump, "under the bus" in his fraud trial, the former president's estranged niece has said.
His daughter is testifying in a civil fraud lawsuit brought against him by New York Attorney General Letitia James, which accuses him and other defendants, including his companies and his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, of fraudulently inflating the value of assets to obtain favorable loans and insurance deals.
Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are testifying this week. They have denied falsifying business records and insurance fraud. The former president, who has consistently denied wrongdoing in the case, is expected to take the stand on Monday, November 6.
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Lawyers for Ivanka Trump, who was a defendant but is now listed as a witness in the case, tried to quash a subpoena summoning her to testify in court. But Judge Arthur Engoron ruled she must appear, and she is set to be questioned next week.
In a conversation with journalist Molly Jong-Fast, Mary Trump said Trump's children could make things difficult for the former president in their testimony.
"They're going to have to walk a very thin line between obfuscating in a way that's not perjury and appeasing their father's ego so that he doesn't throw them under the bus when he testifies, which of course he's going to do no matter what they do," the former president's niece said.
Speaking specifically about Ivanka Trump, she said: "She's just going to tell the truth and throw him under the bus."
Mary Trump, a frequent critic of her uncle, added that Ivanka Trump's father would also "throw her under the bus if he needed to because he doesn't care about anybody."
Newsweek reached out to representatives for both Donald and Ivanka Trump via email for comment.
Ivanka Trump served as the executive vice president for development and acquisition at the Trump Organization. She joined the company in 2005, shortly after graduating from business school, and left to assist her father as an adviser in the White House in 2017.
The prosecution asserted in court filings that she "was a primary point of contact and negotiator with Deutsche Bank" for three high-profile loans that are at the center of the case.
During his testimony, Trump Jr. told the court that he had done "anything and everything" during his time working for the family business but did not get involved in preparing financial statements. He testified that his role in the company grew when his father took office in 2017.
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Eric Trump, who oversaw luxury golf developments at the Trump Organization for a time, has denied he had anything to do with the valuation of Trump golf courses which are involved in the trial. In a pre-trial deposition, he said: "I pour concrete, I operate properties, I don't focus on appraisals."
Trump reacted angrily to news his children would be taking the stand. Early on Wednesday morning, he posted a message on Truth Social to the judge in the case: "Leave my children alone, Engoron. You are a disgrace to the legal profession!"
He has also called the judge a "partisan political hack" and the case a "witch hunt" and a "hoax."
In September, Engoron issued a partial summary stating that the defendants committed fraud. He ruled that Trump grossly inflated the value of his assets to obtain more favorable terms from lenders and insurers.
"The documents here clearly contain fraudulent valuations that defendants used in business," Engoron wrote.
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