SILENT DON?

Trump’s Lawyers Indicate He Won’t Testify After All In Hush-Money Case

Experts said it’s usually not helpful for defendants to testify in their own defense.

As Donald Trump’s first criminal trial inches closer to the finish line, his lawyers indicate the former president is unlikely to take the stand after all. Multiple sources told The Washington Post that Trump’s lawyers don’t currently plan to call him to the stand before the jury begins deliberations—likely this week—in his hush-money case. They cautioned, however, that Trump’s penchant for spontaneity could upend those plans. Lawyers rarely advise defendants to testify in their own defense due to the risk of an errant statement made on the stand getting used against them, experts told the Post. Trump has repeatedly said publicly, however, that he wanted to testify. Adding to the unpredictability: the famously thin-skinned president-turned-defendant has heard friend and foe alike talk about their experiences with him from the stand, including Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen, and Hope Hicks.