Despite what an attorney representing him said just days ago, it appears that former President Donald Trump had second thoughts about testing the limits of the gag order imposed by New York Judge Arthur Engoron in the civil fraud trial against him.
Twice before, Trump did testify in the case; he briefly was called to the stand by Engoron in late October, as we previously wrote, to talk about the gag order. Then, in early Nov., both the judge and the prosecution team questioned him:
Trump was often defiant and combative when he testified on Nov. 6. Along with defending his wealth and denying wrongdoing, he repeatedly sparred with the judge, whom he criticized as an “extremely hostile judge,” and slammed [New York Attorney General Letitia] James as “a political hack.”
Trump answered questions from state lawyers for about 3½ hours, often responding with lengthy diatribes. His verbose answers irked the judge, Arthur Engoron, who admonished: “This is not a political rally.”
Then on Thursday, Trump attorney Alina Habba commented on questions about whether or not her client would return to the witness stand in his own defense. Habba said in a press conference he was adamant about testifying, and that she had tried to dissuade him because of the gag order:
He still wants to take the stand, even though my advice is, at this point, you should never take the stand with a gag order. But he is so firmly against what is happening in this court and so firmly for the old America that we know, not this America, that he will take that stand on Monday.
That was then.
Trump now writes in a two-part Truth Social post he will not testify Monday after all:
In an eleventh-hour reversal, former President Donald Trump announced Sunday he will not go back on the witness stand in the $250 million civil fraud trial against him and his company.
“I have already testified to everything & have nothing more to say other than this is a complete & total election interference (Biden campaign!) witch hunt” so “I will not be testifying on Monday,” Trump said in an all-caps, two-part post on his social media platform Truth Social.
His post continued:
"I have very successfully & conclusively testified" in the AG's "rigged trial against me." "The only fraud committed was by the highly partisan & out of control judge, & racist A.G.," he claimed.
Another statement, from Trump attorney Chris Kise, read:
"There is really nothing more to say to a Judge who has imposed an unconstitutional gag order and thus far appears to have ignored President Trump’s testimony and that of everyone else involved in the complex financial transactions at issue in the case."
Kise insisted that their witnesses had already showed "there were no defaults, no victims and no fraud, adding that, "under such circumstances, there is no valid reason for President Trump to testify further in this case."
As this is a developing story, we'll keep you posted on any updates.