Donald Trump refuses to testify at his criminal trial

However, he assured that he would testify in the courtroom. Donald Trump will not speak during his trial. Review of the case concluded Tuesday, May 21, paving the way for jury deliberations next week. The Republican candidate’s lawyers did not call him to the stand. The ex-president risks exposing himself to the risk of merciless cross-examination by prosecutors, according to several observatories.

“The good news is that they (the prosecution) have not provided any evidence. There is no offense”, said the former president as he left the court. According to him, the case “should be dismissed even before a verdict”. After more than four weeks of debates in New York, around twenty witnesses and thousands of pages of documents submitted to the proceedings, the legal epilogue is approaching in this criminal case with considerable stakes for the Republican candidate for the presidential election. from November 5.

The next hearing, purely procedural, will take place on Thursday. “Tuesday [prochain]you will hear the pleadings” of the defense and the prosecution, “and I hope you will begin to deliberate” the next day, Judge Juan Merchan told jurors. The twelve New York citizens who have followed the trial since April 22 have the difficult task of deciding whether Donald Trump is guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt, of 34 accounting falsifications linked to the payment of $130,000. to former porn actress Stormy Daniels, to avoid a possible sex scandal at the very end of the 2016 presidential campaign. To find him guilty, the unanimity of the jurors will be required.