Day: 5/20/2024

Trump’s Legal Weasel Waffles on Whether Trump Will Testify at His ‘Hush Money’ Trial

Posted by on May 20, 2024 at 3:09 pm. 0 Comments :

Donald Trump’s criminal trial for falsifying business records and election interference (sometimes known as the “Hush Money” case) may be approaching the end as attorneys on both sides begin to wrap up their witness examinations. The judge has tentatively scheduled Tuesday, May 28, for closing arguments.

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Donald Trump Sweating

Among the most eagerly anticipated events in this trial has been the question as to whether or not Trump would testify in his own defense. Most legal experts have held that it would be highly unlikely that Trump would take the oath and expose himself to potentially damaging cross-examination and perjury. For his part, Trump has wavered between contradictory statements insisting that would testify because he has nothing to hide, and whining, falsely, that he would not be able to testify due ot his gag order.

SEE THIS: Trump Fixates on Fox News Phonies While Lying that a Gag Order Prohibits Him from Testifying

On Monday morning Trump’s legal spokesperson, Alina Habba, was interviewed on Fox News, where she seems to have more airtime than any of their hosts. Sandra Smith raised the matter of Trump’s testimony with Habba, but as is often the case, she got a vague response.

Smith: What would be in the thought process to testify or not testify on the part of the former president?
Habba: He’s got to listen to his attorneys. It’s not as much what he wants to do. We know Trump wants to testify. He’s willing, he’s able, he… nothing to hide all. He’s absolutely ready to tell the truth. Frankly, I think his truth has already spoken. He was in the White House while somebody in accounting booked a legal fee payment as a legal expense. It’s pretty quick and it would be a pretty short testimony as far as the questions that would need to be asked, because he had no part in it.

If Trump were “ready to tell the truth” it would be a first for him. And if he had nothing to hide he would jump at the chance to take the stand. He has said repeatedly that he would do so. But now, according to Habba, he needs to consult with his attorneys. Which would actually be the smart thing for him to do. Because if his testimony was anything like what Habba told Fox News, he would be sliced and diced by the prosecutor.

Habba’s defense argument is that Trump, a notorious micromanager, wasn’t a part of the decisions surrounding his payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars to a porn star. And if Trump told the court under oath that he didn’t know how the payments were booked, or that he thought they were booked properly as legal expenses, he would be committing perjury. So yeah…he better listen to his lawyers, and keep his mouth shut.

Habba herself went on to lie about the prosecution of Trump, saying that…

“We have a D.A. that has been politically motivated since the minute he decided to run for office [and] the only time he decided to bring this case was after president Trump announced that he would be running for reelection.”

For the record, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed the 34 felony charges against Trump on April 4, 2023, after a grand jury issued the indictments. That was five months after Trump officially announced his campaign for 2024. Although Trump had informally stated almost immediately after President Biden was inaugurated that he would be running again. Either way, the charges were clearly not in response to Trump’s electoral ambitions.

On the same Fox News program, Habba complained that Trump was “limited as to what he can speak to,” and that “A witness can come up and say things that he knows are untrue, and he can’t say anything back.” Which is also patently false. Trump can, of course, testify under oath, just like the other witnesses that he says are lying.

So, will Trump exercise his rights to defend himself and forthrightly refute the testimony of the other witnesses, who are almost all his former close associates and/or employees? Don’t hold your breath. While his ego-driven inclination may be to do so, his lawyers will likely revolt if he refuses to take their advice and clam up. And it’s notable that Trump has promised to testify in other trials, but ultimately chickened out then as well.

That’s Trump’s standard operating procedure, and there is no reason to assume that it isn’t in effect now. So what we will see from Trump, rather than testimony on the witness stand under oath, are flagrant lies in the hallway outside the courtroom. And even after a conviction we’ll have to endure his yammering about the “rigged” trial and appeals processes. But hopefully an electoral landslide for Biden in November might actually zip Trump’s pie hole. That will be up to the American people to deliver. So you know what to do.

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