IVANKA Trump was on the defensive and hiding her emotions while arriving at court to testify in her father’s fraud trial on Wednesday, a body language expert has said.

Since leaving Washington DC in January 2021, Ivanka has distanced herself from her father’s campaign.

But the former first daughter was forced to take the stand on Wednesday as dad Donald faces charges of racketeering and conspiracy to commit forgery in a New York court.

While Ivanka may have appeared unfazed outside the courthouse to some, body language expert Patti Wood suggested otherwise in an exclusive conversation with The U.S. Sun.

Wood has spent nearly a decade analyzing Ivanka’s body language, making her nearly fluent in the socialite’s tendencies and mannerisms.

She told The U.S. Sun that facially, Ivanka is portraying an air of confidence, especially in a photo where the accused’s daughter is staring right into the camera.

‘HOLDING BACK’

“The way that the mouth and the cheeks are set … it’s closed lips, so she’s holding back a little bit, but there’s a little bit of smugness to that look,” Wood said.

“You feel like she knows something we don’t know.”

Despite that initial confidence, Ivanka was not feeling all too safe, the body language expert found as she analyzed a full body shot.

“Typically, in still photos of her, she has a very upright posture, very perfect posture,” Wood said.

But in this photo, Ivanka’s center of gravity was drastically lower, as shown in the bend of her knee, which is a shift from what is “baseline” for her, the expert explained.

“You lower the center of gravity to be less of a target. It’s part of the … fight-flight response,” said Wood.

She further commented on Ivanka’s gait.

“The other thing that’s interesting is the length of her stride. You can see how broad her stride is, and that also relates to that center of gravity because that’s a flight signal,” Wood said.

“She wants to get out of where she is – fast.”

This is further exaggerated by the stilettoed shoes the former model is wearing, which make a long stride considerably harder to achieve.

SENSE OF FEAR

In order for Ivanka to be presenting in this manner, she was most likely feeling a deep sense of fear and need to be on the defense, the expert said.

“It can indicate fear, and it can indicate emotional suppression, like she’s suppressing her emotional state, her true emotional state,” said Wood.

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Ivanka was training her face in another photo, when internally she was bracing herself for a fight, Wood found in her analysis.

“I would say that the face is more of a façade, under more conscious control, and that her fists are giving us a tell that she’s feeling the need to fight,” Wood said of Ivanka’s body language as she held her purse in a tight fist and her free hand in a loose fist.

Wood also analyzed photos from late October and found that Ivanka has been feeling the pressure and wearing it in her body language for weeks before her testimony.

On October 22, a photo from Kim Kardashian’s birthday party was posted on the reality star’s Instagram.

Ivanka is pictured slightly behind Kim in a position Wood describes as marked by “tension.”

She noted that her visible hand is in a loose fist, just like outside the courthouse, and her front knee is bent to hide her back knee.

“If you look at her smile, it’s very forced,” Wood said.

“You can see a little bit of tension all the way up through her face. It’s a forced smile, and the forcing is taking her a lot of effort.”

Ivanka also showed signs of tension in a photo taken nearly a week prior to Kim’s birthday.

Notably, Ivanka’s arm is tight to her body, which is a deviation from her typical model-like stance, Wood said.

“She usually leaves some space, so you can see her silhouette, her torso silhouette. That’s a very protected, guarding arm hold,” said Wood.

“You can even see, if you look at her legs, again, typically she stands in that model pose, one foot forward, one foot back at that angle. But if you look, her legs have some tension to them.”

‘PUTTING ON A FACE’

After analyzing the photos leading up to and from the day of the testimony, Wood found it clear that Ivanka is putting on a face that is contrary to her internal thoughts and feelings.

“I think she is forcing herself to look good, that is, I think, the overall read,” concluded the expert.

Ivanka testified on Wednesday as part of a $250million lawsuit accusing her father and his co-defendants of committing fraud by inflating assets on financial documents to get better terms on insurance policies.

She told the court that she remembered several things about a 2011 pitch meeting with her family company to redevelop a post office into a hotel in Washington, DC.

She testified that she didn’t remember any of former President Donald Trump’s annual financial statements – which are central to his civil fraud trial.

“I don’t recall, with specificity, any discussion over financial statements,” testified Ivanka.

The businesswoman has long been a close advisor to her father in his business and political ventures.