'All hat, no cattle' Trump likely ducked testimony to avoid embarrassing himself: expert

Donald Trump's last-minute decision to not appear as a witness for his own defense in the $250 million financial fraud trial being conducted in a Manhattan courtroom was likely due to his fears of having to plead the 5th Amendment while being grilled by prosecutors.

That is the opinion of former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, who suggested the former president and his legal team talked a big game up until it was go-time before pulling the plug on Monday's court appearance.

Late Sunday, Trump used his Truth Social account to announce he was no longer testifying in a 3-part, all-caps screed, and Vance jabbed the former president as "all hat, no cattle" for avoiding additional public scrutiny in the high-profile trial that could lead to his Trump Organization being dismantled.

On her Substack platform, Vance joked, "He really is all hat, no cattle; talking tough until it’s time to put his hand down, when he usually folds. Mary Trump referred to it as the most expected reversal since the last time Donald reversed himself."

Speculating as to why he chose to duck defending his real estate empire, Vance wrote that prosecutors were likely to put him on the spot where he not only risked committing perjury, but also providing ammo for prosecutors in his other trials.

"Why not testify? Possibly because the specter of a candidate for the presidency being forced to take the Fifth Amendment over and over on the witness stand during cross-examination is too much for even Trump to withstand," she wrote before adding, "Judge Arthur Engoron has already found that Trump and his company committed fraud—his testimony wouldn’t change that. Most of what’s left is for the Judge to determine how much of its ill-gotten gains the company has to disgorge to the people of New York."

She later added, "Trump knows he’s lost this case, and he’s playing only to the court of public opinion at this point."

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