Alina Habba, the attorney representing former President Donald Trump, has asserted that despite the judge's gag order and his legal team's reservations, Trump will testify in his civil fraud trial on Monday.
In a conversation with Fox News's Martha Maccallum, Habba stated, "I will say and I still say that having any client get on a stand with a gag order as limited or large as this is a First Amendment violation. And you should not respect the court and give them the opportunity to hear you." She added, "But, he is going to take the stand regardless and he will navigate it."
Habba explained that while she did not wish to prevent the former president from speaking in his defense, the gag order would restrict him from providing a "fully and complete" testimony. The order prohibits Trump and his legal team from discussing the judge's staff overseeing the case.
"I would never discourage the former president from testifying, because quite honestly, our plan up until now was to have him testify, he always wanted to testify and he should testify," Habba said. "When he has nothing to hide, its the best thing you could do is put this great witness on that is going to stand up and tell you the truth."
In mid-November, an appeals court temporarily halted the gag order after Trump's legal team filed an emergency lawsuit against Judge Arthur Engoron. They claimed that the judge's enforcement of the order cast "serious doubt" on his impartiality. However, the order was reinstated last week, preventing Trump from criticizing Engoron or his clerk without facing penalties.
Habba criticized the judge, who ruled in September that Trump was liable for fraud. She reiterated her earlier statement to the judge, "We need a directed verdict, meaning that they have not proven their case." She told Maccallum, "Theyve closed their case, we are now putting on our case, and they cannot prove that we did anything wrong. Quite the contrary, all theyve proven is that President Trump is worth a lot more than his financial condition. And if he wanted to inflate it, he would have put his brand alone which is worth billions and billions and billions of dollars. But he didnt because there was no fraud."
The lawsuit against the former president was initiated by New York Attorney General Letitia James's office. They accused Trump, his business, and several executives, including his two adult sons, of falsely inflating and deflating the value of his business's assets to secure lower taxes and better insurance coverage.
Trump is slated to testify on Monday as the defense's final witness.
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