'Difficult choice' faces Trump team as he readies to take witness stand: legal expert

Former President Donald Trump’s legal team faces a tough decision about whether to let their gag-ordered client testify in his $250 million civil court trial Monday, according to legal analyst Lisa Rubin.

“Team Trump has a very difficult choice to make,” Rubin said. “Allow Donald Trump to literally sit within inches of the principal law clerk who he has already talked about twice in violation of the gag order… or keep him at home against what I imagine are his deepest wishes.”

Trump faces high stakes in the New York City courtroom, where he has already been fined $15,000 in gag order violations, as the fate of the Trump Organization hangs in the balance.

While Trump has denied wrongdoing, New York Attorney General Letitia James accuses the real estate mogul of widespread fraud and seeks to have him banned from doing business in her state.

The decision lies with Justice Arthur Engoron, who has fought to keep the conservative frontrunner in the 2024 presidential gagged, arguing Trump’s rhetoric has meant death threats for him and court staff.

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Rubin noted Trump’s attorneys tried to rush an appeal of the gag order that cannot be lifted until Monday afternoon at the earliest.

Trump, meanwhile, likely wants to testify that no one was damaged by faulty the financial records prepared by accountants he’ll blame, Rubin said.

“If he takes the stand,” Rubin said, “I expect Donald Trump to say the banks were happy lenders.”

The decision will also be complicated by upcoming New Hampshire primary and the Iowa caucus, Rubin said, noting Trump was not obligated to appear in court Thursday, but he did so and then complained the trial kept him from the campaign trail.

“The number of times that Trump has gone to Iowa and New Hampshire in this campaign cycle are fewer and further between than he would like to admit,” Rubin said.

“So it's a convenient excuse that he has to be in the courtroom for a civil trial where his attendance is not legally mandatory.”

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