Former President Donald Trump changed his mind this week about testifying as the final witness for his defense in his New York civil fraud trial.
“I have already testified to everything and I have nothing more to say,” the former president declared in an all-caps post on his platform Truth Social on Sunday afternoon. He also claimed, without evidence, that he had tried to tamper with his own re-election bid.
Lawyers for the former president previously said they planned to testify Monday as they fight a lawsuit from the New York attorney general’s office that accuses Trump and others of engaging in various forms of fraud in his real estate empire. Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled that Trump fraudulently inflated the value of assets on his financial statements and that Trump’s companies will be stripped of their state licenses.
Judges are now deciding whether Trump and others, including his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, were involved in other forms of fraud and possible penalties. The New York attorney general’s office has asked a judge to bar Mr. Trump and his adult sons from managing New York companies and order them to pay an estimated $250 million in ill-gotten gains. I asked for it.
Before Sunday, there were some signs that President Trump’s testimony was uncertain. Trump’s lawyers had previously indicated that his son, Eric Trump, was scheduled to testify last week, but he did not take the stand.
The appeals court also reinstated a gag order barring Donald Trump from commenting on court officials. Engoron concluded that the former president violated the order multiple times and fined him a total of $15,000.