Is Ivanka Trump distancing herself from dad Donald Trump's election fraud claims? Twin probes add to her problems
Not long ago, she was being seen as the next big name from the Trump family. At 39, Ivanka Trump has all the time to conquer the world and the followers were hoping that she will make a thundering return to the political centerstage after four years. But as of now, the entrepreneur-politician is reportedly among those close advisers of President Donald Trump who want to distance themselves from his legal efforts to turn the results of the November 3 presidential election around. The incumbent has challenged the outcome of the elections that Democrat Joe Biden has won by alleging voter fraud and moved courts. However, his effort to seek a legal remedy has not paid off so far while pressure is building up on him to concede defeat.
According to a report in Axios, Ivanka and other close advisers to the outgoing president are feeling convinced that it would not go anywhere. The report said while Trump’s advisers are publicly behaving as though they still believe Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who faced considerable embarrassment at a press conference on Thursday, November 19, could pull off a miracle to establish their claims of election fraud, they have conceded in private that the battle is lost.
The report also cited people who have spoken to Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, both of whom worked as Trump’s senior advisers since March 2017, to say: “Even Jared and Ivanka think this is going nowhere.” The president’s daughter and son-in-law reportedly advised the former to concede defeat against Biden, CNN reported citing sources, but his two adult sons -- Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, wanted him to keep up the fight to challenge the outcome.
“Most hardcore Trump sources have psychologically bailed, and are just waiting out the storm,” the Axios report said.
Ivanka reacts to NYT report
But Ivanka’s problems do not end with her father. A New York Times report said on Thursday, November 19, Ivanka could be enmeshed in two different fraud probes by the New York attorney-general and the Manhattan district-attorney’s office. The probes are after the president’s business dealings as head of the Trump Organization and Ivanka served as a vice president in her father’s firm before she joined the White House three years ago.
That Ivanka has been rattled by the twin inquiries was evident as she came up with a strong response to the NYT report. In a tweet on Friday, November 20, in which she linked the report, Ivanka said: “This is harassment pure and simple. This ‘inquiry’ by NYC democrats is 100% motivated by politics, publicity and rage. They know very well that there’s nothing here and that there was no tax benefit whatsoever. These politicians are simply ruthless.”
This is harassment pure and simple. This ‘inquiry’ by NYC democrats is 100% motivated by politics, publicity and rage. They know very well that there’s nothing here and that there was no tax benefit whatsoever. These politicians are simply ruthless.https://t.co/4dQoDzQlRX
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) November 20, 2020
The criminal probe, which is led by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr and the civil investigation, which is conducted by New York Attorney General Letitia James, are some of the many legal challenges that the president and his family business faces once he comes out of the White House to become a private citizen.
According to the Times report, Ivanka reported on a 2017 disclosure she filed when joining the White House as a presidential adviser about getting payments from the consulting company – totaling over $740,000. The amount matched consulting fees that have been claimed as tax deductions by the Trump Organization for hotel projects in places like Hawaii and Vancouver, Canada. It appears that Ivanka Trump was treated as a consultant while she also worked as an executive for the Trump Organization that made the payments.
CBS News reported that the situation will not necessarily pose a legal challenge for Ivanka, as long as she paid income tax on the consulting payments. But questions could be raised on whether the Trump Organization’s relaxed tax deductions were allowable, the CBS News added. The Internal Revenue Service has pursued civil penalties over large consulting fee write-offs that it discovered were made to evade tax liability.