Former U.S. President Donald Trump opted not to testify in his criminal hush money trial on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, concluding his defense swiftly and paving the way for jurors to begin deliberations next week.
For weeks, Trump had fueled speculation about whether he would take the stand to defend himself against charges of falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. By testifying, he might have attempted to personally convince the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates that his intent was to protect his family from embarrassment, rather than to suppress a damaging story about an alleged sexual encounter.
However, criminal defendants typically do not testify in their own trials to avoid probing questions from prosecutors and the risk of perjury if they lie under oath. In a civil fraud trial last year, Trump delivered defiant and rambling testimony, for which he was reprimanded by the judge and ultimately ordered to pay $355 million in penalties. A similar performance in this case could have alienated jurors.
“He could tank his whole case with one outburst,” retired New York judge George Grasso said in an interview last week.
Trump, 77, has pleaded not guilty to 34 charges of falsifying business records. He has denied any wrongdoing and claimed he never had sex with Daniels, who testified in detail about a 2006 liaison she said occurred with Trump.
Prosecutors argue that the altered records covered up election-law and tax-law violations, as the money was essentially an unreported contribution to Trump’s campaign. These violations elevate the crimes from misdemeanors to felonies, punishable by up to four years in prison.
Outside the courtroom, Trump has criticized the judge overseeing the case as corrupt and accused prosecutors of attempting to undermine his bid to reclaim the White House as a Republican against Democratic President Joe Biden in the upcoming Nov. 5 election.
Trump’s legal team called two witnesses on his behalf. Justice Juan Merchan stated that jurors would return next Tuesday, following the three-day Memorial Day weekend, to hear closing arguments, with deliberations likely beginning the following day.
Trump’s lawyers had requested Merchan to dismiss the case before it reached the jury, arguing that it relied on the testimony of Michael Cohen, the estranged former Trump fixer, who has a well-documented history of lying. Such dismissal motions are rarely successful, and Merchan indicated on Monday that he was inclined to let jurors assess Cohen’s credibility for themselves. Prosecutors maintain that Cohen’s testimony is supported by other evidence.
Cohen testified that he spoke repeatedly with Trump about the payment to Daniels during the final stretch of Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign, when the businessman-turned-politician faced multiple accusations of sexual misconduct. Cohen stated that Trump worried Daniels’ story would damage his appeal to women voters if it became public.
(Reuters)
