Former President Trump on Wednesday explained his reason for not taking a stand in his secret trial, despite saying for months that he would be willing to do so.
Trump, in an interview with WABC Radio in New York, partially attributed the decision to Judge Juan Merchan’s decisions throughout the trial, when other witnesses were on the stand, often not in favor of his defense team.
At the beginning of the trial, the judge reduced the scope of what Trump could be questioned in the testimony, but allowed prosecutors to question the former president about other civil cases in which he was involved, namely the one involving columnist E. Jean Carroll.
“Because he made decisions that make it very difficult to testify,” Trump said. “Everything I’ve done, everything I’ve done in the past, they can bring it all up. And you know what, I had a great past.”
“The other reason is because they don’t have any cases,” Trump added. “In other words, why testify when they don’t have a case… There’s no crime… so when you say, ‘Why not testify,’ they don’t have a case unless it’s a corrupt system. “
Trump earlier this month accused Merchan of “doing everything in his power to make this trial as salacious as possible, even though those things have NOTHING to do with this FAKE case.”
The criticism was possibly a reference to the judge’s allowing prosecutors to raise the story of former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also allegedly had an affair with Trump about a decade before he was elected president.
Prosecutors called 20 witnesses over 15 days of testimony before resting the case on Monday. Trump’s defense team called two witnesses and closed the case on Tuesday, without calling the former president to testify.
For weeks, Trump said he was willing to testify but was coy about whether he would actually testify. Legal experts have warned that it could be risky to allow Trump to testify, especially given his combative nature and propensity for false or misleading statements.
The former president faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with a secret payment Michael Cohen made to porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump in 2006, which he denies. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
The jury is expected to deliberate the case next week.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
