Donald Trump announced he would not take the witness stand for a second time at his fraud trial in New York on Monday, the former US president’s last chance to make his case as he combats a potential $250m fine that hangs over his family business.
Trump had been expected to take the stand again as the hearings draw to a close. But on Sunday he announced on the Truth Social site that he would no longer be making an appearance.
“I HAVE ALREADY TESTIFIED TO EVERYTHING & HAVE NOTHING MORE TO SAY OTHER THAN THAT THIS IS A COMPLETE & TOTAL ELECTION INTERFERENCE (BIDEN CAMPAIGN!) WITCH HUNT, THAT WILL DO NOTHING BUT KEEP BUSINESSES OUT OF NEW YORK, I WILL NOT BE TESTIFYING ON MONDAY. MAGA!” he wrote, signing off with the abbreviation for his Make America great again slogan.
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Because Trump was already found guilty of fraud in a September pre-trial ruling, the trial has been over whether Trump and his family knew they were inaccurately representing the value of their assets on financial documents. If found guilty of doing that, Trump will have to pay a fine that could be at least $250m. Trump would also lose his New York business licenses – which would make it impossible for him to run his real estate business in the state – if an appeals court upholds the pre-trial judgment.
Most of his cult loves him because of this. They love that he’s mean, and a bully, and selfish. He acts like they want to but can’t. They’d have repercussions and consequences, he doesn’t. They get to see a guy behave like they dream about behaving and get away with it. They know exactly who he is, they aren’t being fooled, he’s not conning them. He’s a hero to them because he holds up to the ideals they truly believe in. They totally realize who and what he is. They worship him because of it, not in spite of it.