Trumps on trial: family affair is a show of defiance

Ivanka, Eric, Don Jr, the kids have all come out for their turn on the stand in the civil fraud trial of Donald senior, but the spectacle is unlikely to damage his popularity at the polls. Far from it, reports Sarah Baxter from New York

- Sarah Baxter

SO blessed to have hit the jackpot of friends!" Kim Kardashian gushed about her 43rd birthday celebration in Los Angeles on Instagram last month. "I couldn't have ever dreamed I would be so lucky to call these girls my friends." Among her pals was Ivanka Trump in a sequined crop top, thigh-split skirt and Christian Louboutin heels, marking her triumphant return to the celebrity A-list.

Look no further for why Ivanka, 42, was so desperate to avoid testifying in a New York courtroom this week in her father's civil fraud trial. Her rehabilitation in society was at stake. Ivanka's combative, politically active brother Don Jr, 45, and the more business-oriented Eric, 39, had preceded her in court, while her father Donald, 77, was forced to take the stand on Monday. The whole family was on display in all its pomp and infamy.

At risk was the future of the Trump Organisation's right to operate in New York, as well as the prospect of a whopping $250 million (£204 million) fine.

Trump and his two adult sons stand accused of fraudulently inflating the firm's assets to acquire favourable terms for loans (while low-balling the taxpayer) on everything from Trump's gilded resort at Mar-a-Lago in Florida to his golf courses from Miami to Aberdeen. The judge, Arthur Engoron, has already determined their guilt: what remains to be decided is the punishment. Ivanka, who evaded charges on the grounds that she left the family business for the White House in 2017, was nevertheless dragged into the mire as a witness.

When Trump appeared in court on Monday, he was buoyed by a poll in the New York Times showing him significantly ahead of Joe Biden in five key swing states in the 2024 presidential race, with respondents citing concerns about Biden's age and the economy.