Former President Donald Trump wrote on his social media platform Sunday that he is no longer planning to testify in his civil fraud trial in New York on Monday.
Trump had been expected to return to court Monday to testify in his own defense, after he was questioned by the New York attorney general’s office last month. But the former president wrote in a lengthy message on Truth Social that he “WILL NOT BE TESTIFYING ON MONDAY,” while continuing to attack the attorney general’s case against him and the judge overseeing it.
“President Trump has already testified,” Trump attorney Chris Kise said in a statement. “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.”
Had he testified, Trump would have been operating under a gag order imposed by Judge Arthur Engoron barring commentary about the judge’s staff. The gag order – which Engoron has fined Trump twice for violating – was put in place after the former president attacked the judge’s clerk on his social media.
Trump attorney Alina Habba said Thursday that she had recommended Trump not testify because of the gag order.
“He still wants to take the stand even though my advice is at this point you should never take the stand with a gag order. But he is so firmly against what is happening in this court,” she said.
Trump’s attorneys have appealed Engoron’s gag order, though it still remains in place. Last week, Trump’s attorneys asked the judge to postpone his testimony in the defense case until the gag order is decided by the appeals court, which the judge denied.
When Trump was questioned by the New York attorney general’s office last month, his…
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