Trump will probably go back on the witness stand in fraud trial — here's why
November 09, 2023
Donald Trump could very well take the stand again in his New York fraud trial, and a legal expert explained why the former president might be willing take that risk.
The former president testified Monday in the $250 million fraud lawsuit brought by state attorney general Letitia James, and his three eldest children have also taken the witness stand in the case, but MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin told "Morning Joe" that Trump and his sons may be called again by defense attorneys.
"On balance it was bad for Trump family, but I will caveat that [by] saying we expect three of those four Trumps to come back," Rubin said. "Don [Jr.] and Eric will be witnesses for their father. I suspect the former president will be back. Cross examination is always really limited to the scope of what the direct examination is, you can't go beyond that, for the most part. That means his lawyers want to elicit testimony from all three male Trumps to go beyond what the attorney general was interested in, so they'll bring them back, to afford them, as [defense attorney] Chris Kise complained, the latitude they think the former president and maybe future president should be afforded to explain himself and what it was that he was doing without intent."
Rubin then sketched out what arguments she expects the Trump legal team to offer in his defense.
"The main argument, the second one first, no one intended for this to happen, for a variety of reasons," she said. "They'll say they were entitled to rely on their accountants and their lawyers. They'll also say they disclaimed the accuracy of those financial statements in a clause with them, that says everyone receiving them you should do your own due diligence. Trump, in particular, is fixated on what he calls this worthless statement clause."
Rubin, however, is dubious those arguments will persuade Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing the trial and has already found them liable for fraud.
"Do I think the attorney general established what it was before them?" Rubin said. "I think they did. Their task here was to show that the Trumps not only perpetrated a years-long fraud in terms of Trump's statements of financial condition, but they did so intentionally and aided other people with intent, like Jeff McConney and Allen Weisselberg, who's also a defendant here."
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