Trump allies accuse conservative site of 'bullying' ex-president for not taking the stand

Donald Trump's allies on Sunday lashed out at a politically conservative website, saying it is "bullying" the former president for his apparent refusal to take the stand on his own behalf in his criminal trial.

Matt Drudge and Trump were once allies, but more recently, the Drudge Report aggregator has been critical of the ex-president even as it maintains a conservative bent.

Over the weekend, however, some prominent Trump-supporting Republicans expressed concern.

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Greta Van Susteren, a former Fox News host who now appears on Newsmax, pointed to a Drudge piece about Trump's criminal hush money cover-up trial in New York.

"Afraid to take the stand?" Drudge wrote, noting that the former president "may not mount defense."

Van Susteren didn't appreciate the dig at Trump.

"I don’t know if he will or will not take the stand but shame on ⁦[Drudge] for bullying someone when it comes to constitutional rights…constitutional rights protect both the innocent and the guilty and are not just for Drudge’s friends," she wrote.

She continued:

"One other thing for the obviously legally ignorant Matt Drudge - as a defense lawyer you recommend to the client not to put on a defense when the prosecution’s case is pitiful and not meeting the constitutional burden."

A commenter replied that "[MSNBC legal analyst and host] Katie Phang is doing the same. Shame on them."

The Newsmax host replied that Phang "is a lawyer and I doubt very much she is doing the same…if she is, shame on her as every lawyer knows this."

"I would be particularly disappointed since I asked MSNBC to hire her (and they did) when I was there," she added. "I expect lawyers to respect the constitution and stand up against colleagues who don’t."

Trump ally and lawyer Harmeet Dhillon also chimed in, claiming that "Drudge has long been trash."