After Trump claimed outside court yesterday that the silence order prohibited him from testifying, Judge Merchan corrected Trump from the bench.
Don’t miss Sarah Jones’ essay on Kristi Noem, entitled Predatory Is the Point of the Day.
Norm Eisen wrote:
BREAKING: Judge corrects Trump for lying outside court yesterday
Trump said the gag order prevented him from testifying
Judge: You have the absolute right to testify at trial or not, and a silence order has nothing to do with that
Merchan will not tolerate Trump’s disinformation campaign!
— Norm Eisen (Try #Trump now!) (@NormEisen) May 3, 2024
CNN’s Jim Acosta also discussed it:
.@Acosta reports on Judge Merchan correcting Trump’s lie about not being allowed to testify: “The judge just said, no, you do have the right to testify. The gag order has nothing to do with it.” pic.twitter.com/k59NJiPM4T
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) May 3, 2024
As I wrote yesterday in The Daily, there is nothing in the gag order that prevents Trump from testifying. Donald Trump continues to harbor the delusion that because he is a presidential candidate he is allowed to tamper with the jury, witness tampering, and use his platform to attack members of the court. This is not true. The gag order imposed on Trump is limited and only limits what he can say about witnesses, jurors and members of the court.
Trump can testify whenever he wants.
The problem is that the trial is going badly for Trump, and he doesn’t want to testify, so he’s looking for a way out, while still trying to get his fans involved in this process.
Judge Merchan shows that he will not tolerate lies and misinformation. The judge’s action today is also a statement that he will not allow this trial to be distorted and used as a campaign platform for Donald Trump.
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Jason is the editor-in-chief. He is also a White House press pool and congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a bachelor’s degree in political science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
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