Former President Donald Trump has decided he will not testify as planned on Monday in his New York civil fraud trial.
Trump was previously called to testify on Nov. 6 by lawyers for New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office has accused him, two of his sons and their company of a decade-long fraud scheme designed to benefit themselves by hundreds of millions by getting unusually good terms on loans and insurance. That day, he clashed with the judge, Arthur Engoron, while answering many questions with long, rambling diatribes.
He was expected to be his team’s final witness. The state has indicated it intends to call a pair of witnesses to rebut testimony by real estate and accounting experts called in Trump’s defense.
His attorney, Christopher Kise, said in a statement that the former president had “already testified” and “there is really nothing more to say to a Judge who has imposed an unconstitutional gag order and thus far appears to have ignored President Trump’s testimony and that of everyone else involved in the complex financial transactions at issue in the case.”
Although his last appearance on the stand was on Nov. 6, Trump returned to the New York courtroom on Dec. 7 as his defense team questioned what is expected to be their final expert witness.
After the final witnesses are called, the two sides will have more than three weeks to submit written filings to the judge, before meeting again for closing arguments on Jan. 11. Engoron has indicated his final ruling is likely to be issued weeks later.
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