- Lawyer Gregory Germain predicts Trump’s team won’t let him testify
Donald Trump’s legal team will not take him to the stand in his hush money trial because he is a “very difficult guy to control,” a legal expert predicted.
The former president faces up to four years in prison in the ongoing trial over whether he falsified business records in an attempt to squash negative press in the run-up to the 2016 election.
He has repeatedly stated that he will testify to clear his name, but attorney and Syracuse University professor Gregory Germain he said to the sun His lawyers probably won’t let him take the stand.
Germain said: “He’s kind of a bull in a china shop.” He will resist and you just don’t know what’s going to happen.
“He’s a very difficult guy to control. His lawyers are going to be very worried about putting him on the stand under oath.
The former president faces up to four years in prison if convicted in the ongoing trial
Attorney and Syracuse University professor Gregory Germain told The Sun that his lawyers probably won’t allow Trump to take the stand.
Prosecutors allege Trump was part of a scheme to falsify records to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from discussing an alleged affair with Trump before the 2016 election.
He denies all 34 counts of falsifying business records.
He also faces three other trials, one of them for election interference, which will begin in Georgia in August. He denies all charges.
There has been much speculation about whether the former president, the first to be indicted on criminal charges, will take the stand at the trial.
Speaking to The Sun, Germain said: ‘The standard view of criminal lawyers is that you don’t want your client to take the stand.
“It’s very dangerous for the client to take the stand because if he says something that turns out to be false, the jury will think it’s all false and convict him.”
His lawyers would not be able to control what potentially embarrassing questions he was asked or how he would respond.
Germain said: “If I were a lawyer, I would be very afraid to put Donald Trump on the stand.”
Trump denies all 34 charges of falsifying business records
There has been much speculation about whether the former president, the first to be indicted on criminal charges, will take the stand at the trial.
“You can’t practice with him and get him to do things the way you want him to do them.”
If it were Biden or Obama, it might be different, Germain said: “They’re pretty nice and couldn’t get into trouble.”
But he added: “I don’t think Trump is capable of controlling himself in any way, so it’s too dangerous to put them on the stand.”
The trial is entering its fourth week and is expected to continue next month.
Germain said he believes Trump is unlikely to be sentenced to prison even if convicted. He said: “I think if he sentenced him to prison it would cause an uproar, a shout and a crisis.”