Former President Trump gave an explanation on Wednesday for why he didn’t take the stand in his hush money trial, even though he had said for months that he would.
Trump said in an interview with WABC Radio in New York that the decision was partly because Judge Juan Merchan made decisions during the trial that were often against his defense team’s evidence.
Earlier in the trial, the judge limited what questions Trump could be asked while he was on the stand. However, the judge did allow the lawyers to question the former president about other civil cases he was involved in, such as the one involving columnist E. Jean Carroll.
Trump said, “Because he made decisions that make it very hard to testify.” “They can bring up anything I did, even things I did in the past.” I’ve had a great past, too.
Trump added, “The other reason is that they don’t have a case.” “In other words, why come forward if they have no case… There’s no crime… So when you ask them, “Why not testify?” they have no reason other than the fact that the system is broken.
In the beginning of the month, Trump said that Merchan was “doing everything he could to make this trial as scandalous as possible, even though these things have NOTHING to do with this FAKE case.”
The criticism might have been about the judge letting prosecutors bring up the case of Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who is also said to have had an affair with Trump about ten years before he became president.
Twenty witnesses were called by the prosecution over 15 days. On Monday, the case was over. Two witnesses were called by Trump’s defense team on Tuesday, and the case was over. The former president was not called to the stand.
Trump had said for weeks that he was ready to speak, but he hadn’t said for sure that he would actually do it. Legal experts had said it might be risky to let Trump speak, especially since he is argumentative and often says things that aren’t true.
There are 34 counts against the former president of falsifying business records. These charges are related to a hush money payment that Michael Cohen made to porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Cohen paid her to keep quiet about her claimed affair with Trump in 2006, which Trump denies. Trump has said he is not guilty.
Next week, the jury is likely to talk about the case.
