Trump lawyer says ex-president would be ‘compelling’ on the stand in his N.Y. hush money trial

Donald Trump’s lawyer says the former president would be a “compelling witness” if he decides to testify in his New York hush-money criminal trial.

“I think that’s going to be a decision for President Trump and the trial team depending on how the trial progresses,” Will Scharf said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I would say that I think if he does take the stand, President Trump would be a compelling witness.

“He did nothing wrong here,” Mr. Scharf said. “The truth is absolutely on his side, so that’s a decision that’s going to have to be made down the road, but one way or another, I have full confidence in both President Trump and the team that he has around him.”

The trial will start jury selection Monday in Manhattan, where Mr. Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with hush-money payments his former attorney Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. His lawyers have said the payments to Mr. Cohen were legal expenses and not part of a cover-up.

Mr. Trump’s legal team attempted to have the case’s start delayed multiple times but has been denied each time.

Mr. Cohen said Sunday on MSNBC that it’s very unlikely the former president will take the stand.

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“The likelihood of Donald Trump being on the stand is equal to the likelihood of me waking up tomorrow 7’6” and playing center for the New York Knicks,” he said. “It’s not going to happen.

“The one thing that, you know, every time Donald opens his mouth, you know that something nontruthful is coming out of it. We also know that he’s not a good defendant. He’s not a good witness,” he said.

But, Mr. Trump said he would testify at his trial.

“Yes, I would testify,” he said Friday at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. “I’m testifying. I tell the truth. I mean, all I can do is tell the truth. And the truth is that there’s no case, they have no case,” he said.

Mr. Trump has flip-flopped on testifying in his other legal cases. In his New York civil fraud case that ended in February, he said he would testify but then pulled his testimony. He wound up being called to the stand by the prosecution, and launched into a diatribe that annoyed the judge.