Ivana Trump was under FBI inquiry for ties to her homeland Czechoslovakia

Recently released documents reveal that Ivana Trump, former President Donald Trump’s first wife, was investigated by the FBI for alleged ties to Czechoslovakia, her home country. The source of the allegations isn’t known, but they prompted a two-year investigation by the FBI’s counterintelligence division, beginning in 1989, according to the recently published papers obtained by Bloomberg under the Freedom of Information Act. Some portions of the document are still redacted, citing national security and privacy concerns.

The investigation didn’t result in any charges against Ivana Trump, who was born in Czechoslovakia in 1949. She left the country in 1971, shortly after marrying an Austrian ski instructor that she then divorced to gain Austrian citizenship. She later moved to California and New York, where she worked as a model. She met Donald Trump in 1976 and married him a year later. They had three children together, and became known for their prominence in New York City culture. However, the couple ultimately divorced in the late 1980s after Donald Trump’s affair with his future second wife Marla Maples.

FBI agents also became interested in Ivana Trump’s activities in Czechoslovakia, especially after a “highly confidential and reliable source” reported that Ivana Trump was in the country on June 4th, 1990, when the country’s last president gave her an autographed book. The Prague Daily Monitor also published a story after Donald Trump’s election in 2016 that Ivana Trump didn’t help dissidents or exiles during the communist regime, which may explain the FBI’s interest in her visit to the country. Donald Trump is mentioned in one passage in the FBI report, which references a magazine article titled “Trump.”

Ivana Trump died in July 2022 after a fall in her New York home at the age of 73.