- Donald Trump said Friday he plans to testify in his hush-money trial, set to start Monday.
- Trump previously backed out of testifying in his civil fraud trial.
- The former president could open himself up to risky cross-examination if he testifies.
Former President Donald Trump on Friday said he will “absolutely” testify in his upcoming Manhattan hush-money trial, which is set to begin jury selection on Monday morning.
But Trump hasn’t always kept his testimony promises.
If his lawyer has any ability to stop Trump, up to and including shooting him with a tranquilizer dart, Trump is not going to testify.
Once you choose to testify in your own defense in a criminal trial, you waive your 5A rights against self-incrimination. So once you say something untruthful in any regards, the prosecution can start calling rebuttal witnesses to demonstrate that you lied, which undercuts your entire case. Saying that you can’t remember when you get asked pointed questions makes you look really bad to the jury. Or, let’s say that he admits to having had an affair with Stormy Daniels (side note: is it really an “affair” when you’re explicitly paying for sexual services?, because I’m pretty sure the whole thing was strictly transactional); then the prosecutor can ask him why he lied in public, repeatedly, over the course of multiple years, about the sexual affair. Admitting he’s been intentionally and willfully lying in public for years is politically bad for Trump.
Testifying in your own defense is almost never a good choice.
He was married at the time, so it would typically be considered an affair. I don’t think the Christofascists in the GOP would be particularly amenable to an open relationship.
He can do whatever he wants and they will defend and support him there is no “gotcha!” that will make people stop supporting Trump.
At this point there could be evidence trump strangled babies, and his supporters would respond “yeah, but how many?”
They don’t give a fuck about that. They’ll ask what color.
“Were they Democrats?”
Even if they were white babies, their parents were liberals who were just gonna get a 5th trimester abortion anyway.
He’s divorced 3 times. 4? It’s hard to believe anyone could actually believe this guy has been faithful to his marital vows.
If you didn’t reason yourself into your position, being Christian, you don’t need to actually be reasonable. “He’s a flawed christian” which makes this born-with-a-silver-spoon-in-his-mouth-billionaire just like us regular christian imperfect joes!
I wish I had your optimism. I don’t think it matters, as someone in the right-wing spin-sphere will come up with some viral explanation that they’ll just adopt. All it takes is just one person coming up with something they can accept.
As he said, he could shoot someone on 5th avenue and these rubes will still support him.