Former President Trump has always been known for his coolness under pressure. Now he’s completely blindsided his prosecutors.
And Trump’s NYC trial is in shambles after he made this announcement.
Former President Donald Trump will not testify in his civil fraud trial in New York on Monday.
In a post on Truth Social, the president declared that he will not testify as scheduled, citing Judge Arthur Engoron as “biased” and accusing the New York Attorney General’s office and President Joe Biden’s campaign of “election interference.”
“BASED ON THE ABOVE, AND THE FACT THAT OUR UNASSAILABLE FINAL EXPERT WITNESS HAS BEEN SO STRONG AND IRREFUTABLE IN HIS TESTIMONY, WHICH WILL CONCLUDE ON TUESDAY, & THAT I HAVE ALREADY TESTIFIED TO EVERYTHING & HAVE NOTHING MORE TO SAY OTHER THAN THAT THIS IS A COMPLETE & TOTAL ELECTION INTERFERENCE (BIDEN CAMPAIGN!) WITCH HUNT, THAT WILL DO NOTHING BUT KEEP BUSINESSES OUT OF NEW YORK, I WILL NOT BE TESTIFYING ON MONDAY. MAGA!”
Trump’s decision not to testify came nearly 11 hours after he announced he would return to the witness stand.
The former president was expected to appear as one of the defense’s final witnesses in the two-month-long $250 million civil fraud trial.
On Nov. 6, the former president testified in response to New York Attorney General Letitia James’ charges that he dramatically overpriced his properties in order to obtain advantageous bank loans.
Trump has previously attacked both James and Engoron, referring to James as a “political hack” and Engoron as a “very hostile judge” in earlier remarks.
As the defendant, Trump was under no obligation to testify on his own behalf.
Last Wednesday, his son, Eric Trump, also declined to testify against him. Eric Trump had previously testified as a witness once before, in early November.
After attending the trial as a spectator last Thursday, Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, told reporters that the former president was “looking forward to taking the stand.”
Habba claimed she encouraged Trump not to speak because of a gag order that barred him from criticizing Engoron’s law clerk, but Trump insisted because “he is so firmly against what is happening in this court.”
“He will open himself up to whatever they want because he’s not afraid. People that are terrified hide. President Trump doesn’t cower,” she said via NBC News.
The “unassailable final expert witness” highlighted in Trump’s Sunday post is Eli Bartov, a New York University accounting professor who testified last week that James’ case had no basis and that he found no proof of wrongdoing in the former president’s financial accounts. He is the 19th and final defense witness called.
During the trial, Bartov admitted on the witness that the Trump Organization and Trump’s Save America PAC have paid him $875,000 so far for his efforts on the case. When asked if this had any bearing on his testimony, he replied, “No.”
Following Bartov’s testimony, the attorney general’s office is likely to call two rebuttal witnesses to the stand.
After Trump took the stand, James’ team was anticipated to begin cross-examining Bartov. The closing arguments are scheduled to begin on January 11.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
