What to know about Ivanka’s new life ahead of her testimony in her father’s fraud case this week.
There was a time when Ivanka Trump was a near-constant presence in national press. As a senior White House advisor, she was a fixture in the Oval Office and regularly seen at media events across the globe shaking hands, kissing babies, and boosting her father’s agenda.
Then, things began to shift. After Trump lost the 2020 election, she and her husband Jared Kushner quietly started distancing themselves from the former president. They both exited politics, have made it clear that they won’t take part in Trump’s reelection bid, and — having allegedly been exiled from Manhattan’s high society — decamped to Florida. For the most part, the high-profile socialite has disappeared from public view. But this week, she’ll be back in the spotlight when she takes the stand in the civil fraud trial against her father and his real estate empire.
Ahead of her testimony, here’s a timeline look at what the 42-year-old’s been up to since leaving the White House.
Ivanka moves to South Florida
In December 2020, Ivanka and Kushner reportedly purchased a lot in Miami on Indian Creek Island, an ultra-exclusive neighborhood known as “billionaire’s bunker,” for $32 million. A few months later, the couple closed on a nearby 6-bedroom, 8 ½-bathroom mansion for $24 million. According to a Vanity Fair feature about the couple’s new life in the Sunshine State, the two seem to have settled in nicely, becoming “friendly with Miami’s official mayor, Francis Xavier Suarez, and its unofficial mayor, Mr. 305 himself, Pitbull.”
The Abraham Accords Caucus
According to Insider, in October 2021, Ivanka and Kushner traveled to Israel to launch the Abraham Accords Caucus. The initiative builds on Kushner’s previous diplomatic work: In 2020, he helped broker the Abraham Accords, which sought to normalize relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. While there, Ivanka also met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Ivanka testifies in Jan. 6 probe
“It affected my perspective … I accepted what [Barr] was saying.”
— Ivanka Trump, in recorded deposition to the 1/6 committee, asked about Trump Attorney General Bill Barr saying there was not sufficient election fraud to overturn the election pic.twitter.com/Fp2NUFIHCu
— The Recount (@therecount) June 10, 2022
The former first daughter sat for eight hours of questioning before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Ivanka was one of the few folks in Trump’s orbit who tried to persuade the former president to call off the violence, the Times reports, and in her April 2022 testimony, she told the panel that she “accepted” then-Attorney General William Barr’s assessment that the 2020 election had not been stolen.
That didn’t go over well with her father, who later tweeted that she was “not involved in looking at, or studying, Election results.”
“She had long ago checked out,” he wrote on the platform.
Stepping away from Trump 2024
Shortly after the former president announced his 2024 candidacy, Ivanka made it clear that she would not be joining him on the campaign trail. She issued the following statement to press: “I love my father very much. This time around I am choosing to prioritize my children and the private life we are creating as a family. I do not plan to be involved in politics. While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena. I am grateful to have had the honor of serving the American people and I will always be proud of many of our Administration’s accomplishments.”
Stepping out with the Kardashians
In October 2023, Ivanka was not only invited to Kim Kardashian’s 43rd birthday party in Beverly Hills — she also made the mega-influencer’s Instagram. (Swipe to slide 5 above, to see her posing with Kim K.) The guest list also included Hailey Bieber, Kimora Lee Simmons, Jeff Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sanchez, and various members of the Kardashian-Jenner clan. Media observers noted that it was the first time an A-list celeb had made such a public show of support for Ivanka in years, leading some to speculate whether she might be in the process of befriending coastal elites.
Tina Brown, the journalist and author, told Town & Country: “There is a myth that Jared and Ivanka will be rejected socially. The rich are never rejected — until they go to prison or lose their money.”
