Donald Trump reportedly won’t testify to the Manhattan grand jury considering charging him in the Stormy Daniels hush money scheme. It’s a smart decision for Trump not to speak under oath if he doesn’t have to — given, you know, all the lying he does.
As I wrote Friday:
It’s rare in general for defendants or potential defendants to testify in these situations, and Trump might be an even worse candidate than usual, given his awkward relationship with the truth. No doubt Trump’s legal team knows this and has taken it into account when advising the former president.
Trump’s team apparently took this to heart. His lawyer Joe Tacopina told NBC News on Monday that, after weekend discussions in Florida with Trump, the Republican won’t be taking District Attorney Alvin Bragg up on the invitation to appear before the grand jury. Presumably, Tacopina didn’t tell Trump he shouldn’t testify because he’s a liar, but rather framed it in terms of an unscrupulous prosecutor out to get the 2024 presidential hopeful.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that Trump, who has denied the allegations, avoids charges by not testifying. It just means that he might avoid adding a perjury charge to whatever else Bragg’s grand jury is considering. Most importantly, the fact of Bragg’s invitation itself is a sign that charging decisions are coming soon in New York.
Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and is the author of “Bizarro," a book about the secret war on synthetic drugs. Before he joined MS NOW, he was a legal reporter for Bloomberg Law.
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