US: Donald Trump's lawyer says he will take stand in fraud trial regardless of gag order
Dec 10, 2023
Washington, DC [US], December 10 : Former US President Donald Trump's attorney, Alina Habba, said Friday that her client would testify in his civil fraud trial on Monday, despite the judge's gag order and the legal team's reluctance, according to The Hill.
"I will say and I still say that having any client get on a stand with a gag order as limited or large as this is a First Amendment violation," Trump's lawyer argued in an interview with Fox News's Martha Maccallum.
"And you should not respect the court and give them the opportunity to hear you. But, he is going to take the stand regardless and he will navigate it," she added.
The attorney further stated that she did not want to prevent the former president from speaking on his behalf, he would be unable to deliver his testimony "fully and completely" because of the gag order, which prohibits Trump and his counsel from speaking about the judge handling the case, The Hill reported.
"I would never discourage the former president from testifying, because quite honestly, our plan up until now was to have him testify, he always wanted to testify and he should testify," Habba said, adding "When he has nothing to hide, it's the best thing you could do is put this great witness on that is going to stand up and tell you the truth."
Habba slammed the court which concluded in September that Trump was guilty of fraud, repeating what she told the judge earlier this week: "We need a directed verdict, which means they have not proven their case," according to The Hill.
The former president was charged by the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who accused Trump, his company, and several executives -- including his two adult sons -- of falsely inflating and deflating the value of his company's assets in order to receive lower taxes and better insurance coverage.
Trump is scheduled to testify as the defence's final witness on Monday.
