Ivana Trump, the first wife of former President Donald Trump, was under FBI counterintelligence investigation after she eventually ended up in the U.S. after migrating out of then-communist Czechoslovakia.
Bloomberg News obtained scores of pages from an FBI file on Ivana Trump that included their findings from the international investigation that spanned from Europe to Canada.
The “secret” files said that in 1989 the FBI recommended opening an investigation into Ivana Trump based on information that bureau received from a confidential source. The FBI report noted that the allegations could have stemmed from “jealousies of her wealth and fame.”
Much is still not known about the two-year investigation other than it involved the FBI’s counterintelligence division and was deemed “highly sensitive.”
The FBI file reportedly had little information about Donald Trump in it.
The report said that the FBI found 900 pages of material that it had on Ivana Trump and, after being sued by Bloomberg News, agreed to release nearly 200 pages this week and will release the remainder next month.
The bureau can release the information now since Ivana Trump is no longer alive.
Donald Trump announced Ivana’s passing last July in a statement he posted to social media.
“I am very saddened to inform all of those that loved her, of which there are many, that Ivana Trump has passed away at her home in New York City,” the former president said in a statement. “She was a wonderful, beautiful, and amazing woman, who led a great and inspirational life. Her pride and joy were her three children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. She was so proud of them, as we were all so proud of her. Rest In Peace, Ivana!”
Ivana Trump was mother to the three oldest Trump children, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump.
Ivana Marie Zelnícková was born under communist rule in the former Czechoslovakia. She was athletically gifted growing up as she participated in competitive skiing starting at the age of six and continued skiing through college and reportedly was an alternate for the country’s Olympic team in the 1972.
Ivana Trump later immigrated to Canada in the 1970s where she worked as a ski instructor before starting her modeling career which landed her in New York in 1976 — where she quickly met Donald Trump.
Ivana Trump married Donald Trump in 1977. The couple later got divorced in 1992.
The New York Times reported that Ivana Trump was a “critical part” in Donald Trump building his real-estate business, describing her as extremely hard working and with a keen eye for details. At one point she served as vice president for interior design at the Trump Organization.
Ivana Trump and Donald Trump were on good terms in recent years, reportedly speaking as often as once a week, as she supported him politically and encouraged his use of Twitter.
Ivana Trump was married to Alfred Winklmayr before she met Donald Trump. Ivana Trump’s marriage to Winklmayr lasted two years.
After her marriage to Trump, Ivana Trump married Riccardo Mazzucchelli in 1995. That marriage later ended in 1997.