Ivanka Trump Pitted Against Jared Kushner During Testimony

Ivanka Trump's testimony in her father's $250 million civil fraud case pitted the former president's daughter against her husband, Jared Kushner, as messages between them were examined.

The trial stems from a lawsuit filed last year by New York Attorney General Letitia James, alleging that Donald Trump and top executives at his family company, The Trump Organization, conspired to increase his net worth by billions of dollars on financial statements provided to banks and insurers to make deals and secure loans. Trump, front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, testified on Monday and has denied any wrongdoing and has called the trial politically motivated. Eric and Donald Trump Jr., senior executives of The Trump Organization, are also accused of assisting the former president and have testified in the trial.

On Wednesday, Ivanka Trump, who left the Trump Organization in 2017 to become a top White House aide for her father, testified she was not involved in her father's financial statements.

However, amid testimony, Ivanka was confronted with an email she had sent her husband, Kushner, on the redevelopment of a historic federal post office into a luxury Trump-branded hotel in Washington, D.C.

The Trump Organization had sought a nine-figure loan on the deal, which was reached a few years before Trump became president; however, according to emails shown in court, Kushner had provided his advice on securing the favorable terms.

"[Y]ou can get better pricing for such low [loan-to-value]," Kushner told his wife in an email dated June 17, 2013, referring her to one possibility by the Manhattan-based Natixis Bank.

New York Attorney General Counsel Louis Solomon followed up by questioning Ivanka on why she consulted her husband on the deal at a time when he wasn't working for the company.

In response, Trump's lead defense counsel Christopher Kise objected on the grounds of spousal privilege but was dismissed as Judge Arthur Engoron found them admissible as the emails were sent from work email addresses on work topics.

"If you use a work email that's subject to being seen by other people, you waive the confidentiality," Engoron said.

Forced to answer the question, Ivanka Trump answered saying, "My husband is also in real estate, and we have respect for each other."

Trump's D.C. hotel opened in September 2016 just months before the presidential election and closed in May 2022 upon its sale and ultimate transformation into a Waldorf Astoria hotel.

Newsweek has reached out to Trump via email for further comment.

After Ivanka Trump's quarrel in the courtroom over the messages she sent her husband, former litigator and MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin took to X, formerly Twitter, aiming at the turn of events while also warning others to not use "work emails to communicate with your spouse."

"So consider this your annual reminder from your ex-lawyer friend: Do not use your work email to communicate with your spouse! And with my advice column behind me, in walks Ivanka," Rubin wrote on X.

Meanwhile, despite Ivanka Trump admitting in court that she and others knew her father's net worth requirement related to attaining loan rates over a decade ago was an issue, the former president's daughter wraps up her testimony continuing to state she was not involved in her father's financial statements.