This Monday in court, when opening statements were set to kick off in the New York City criminal case against ex-President Donald Trump accusing him of falsifying business records in connection to hush money for a woman named Stormy Daniels, presiding Judge Juan Merchan okay’ed a substantial list of items for the prosecution’s potential use against the ex-White House occupant if he takes the stand.
A key factor in prosecutors actually doing that would be eroding Trump’s credibility before jurors.
And per legal journalist Adam Klasfeld, Merchan gave prosecutors leeway in the scenario of Trump actually testifying to use against him the outcome of his civil case from state Attorney General Letitia James alleging business fraud, the upheld accusations from writer E. Jean Carroll of defamation, and past findings that he violated a gag order amid that civil fraud case, alongside other previous legal hurdles.
It’s unclear at this point whether Trump will, in fact, take the stand, where he would be under much stricter controls than those of his routine public commentary. In short, lying while under oath in a courtroom can produce serious consequences for the perpetrator — and per extensive, sweeping reports, Trump doesn’t exactly have the strongest relationship with the truth! He still alleges that he was the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election, for goodness’ sake.
During the Trump defense team’s opening statements later on Monday, there reportedly were multiple sustained objections from the prosecution that related to subjects including Daniels herself, who a Trump lawyer tried to suggest was perpetrating an extortion plot in her handling of her account of a personal relationship with Trump. After one such objection that was upheld by the judge, the Trump lawyer — Todd Blanche — evidently pivoted from the extortion suggestion, a serious accusation to bring! Proceedings paused early Monday.
