Former President Donald Trump announced that he is no longer planning to testify in his civil fraud trial in New York on Monday. Trump was expected to take the witness stand to testify in his own defense against allegations that his family and his business engaged in fraud, but he reversed course Sunday, writing on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday in an all-caps message that he “WILL NOT BE TESTIFYING ON MONDAY. MAGA!” Trump said that he’s already testified and has nothing more to say on the matter — and that the entire trial is an attempt at election interference.
Trump’s attorney Chris Kise said in a statement: “President Trump has already testified. 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. The Attorney General continues her rabid and unreasonable pursuit of President Trump, obviously intent on driving profitable businesses out of New York. Under such circumstances, there is no valid reason for President Trump to testify further in this case.”
Trump and his two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, are defendants in the lawsuit. Trump testified earlier in the trial under questions from the New York attorney general’s office, and his lawyers had been expected to question him as part of his defense on Monday.
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