Donald Trump loathes the gag order that has been imposed on him, complaining about it and the "kangaroo court" responsible for imposing it just about ever time he enters or exits the Manhattan court where he's on trial, accused of falsifying business records to cover up an election-eve hush payment to a porn star. He's already violated the order at least 10 times, forcing the former president to lean on a crop of Republican "surrogates" to make all the attacks — on witnesses, the jury, the legal system — that he would like to make himself, were he not threatened with jail.
But with the prosecution expected to rest its case this week, Trump now has an opportunity to spell out, in his own words, in a setting where he's totally allowed to do so, why the witnesses against him are liars, why the whole trial is a "sham" and why he shouldn't be convicted of the 34 felony charges against him: He himself could take the stand.
In March, Trump boasted that he would do so, saying he had "no problem testifying" because he "didn't do anything wrong."
A lot has changed since then, however. For one, the trial is underway; when he pledged to testify, Trump was speaking at a time when his lawyers were still trying to delay the case. And two, with the defense only needing to sow doubt in the minds of one person to get a hung jury, attorneys Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and Susan Necheles — having scored some hits on the credibility of star witness and former Trump fixer Michael Cohen — are not likely to be encouraging their client to take a risk that most defendants would reject.
"We don't yet know if Trump is going to testify," noted former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance. "The smart money says no."
Trump's allies are already spinning as if he won't.
Speaking to Politico, Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill, argued that Trump would have "plenty of time" after the trial to say his piece. "Anybody testifying for their own sake, it doesn't play out well," he argued.
"I don't think he really needs to," added Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y..
Sarah Krissoff, a former federal prosecutor, said testifying would afford Trump the opportunity to tell his own side of the story, in his own words. The problem, she told the outlet, is that Trump's version of events would of course be subject to cross examination; the crowd in Manhattan will also not be anything like the crowd for a MAGA rally in South Jersey.
“Trump has so much baggage here — his own story about these events has shifted over time, so he will be painted as a liar by the prosecution,” Krissoff said. “It will be very hard for him to maintain a calm and cool demeanor, and the jury may simply not like him.”
MSNBC legal analyst Katie Phang, in a column published Monday, noted that Trump not taking the stand would be a case of the former president backing down. "I'm testifying," he declared just last month. "I tell the truth."
But testifying, and telling his version of the truth, has backfired before. In his civil fraud trial, he grew so angry on the stand that the judge had to instruct Trump's lawyer to "control your client." He then lost the case and was fined $454 billion.
Trump, Phang noted, is under no obligation to testify. She would advise him not to (and most defense lawyers would advise most defendants to do the same). But the former president, the first to ever be put on criminal trial, is not a normal client.
"Trump is 100% in the driver’s seat on the decision whether or not to testify in his own defense," Phang wrote. "No one can force him to testify; the decision is not his lawyers’ to make."
