CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig declared that he’d “beg” former President Donald Trump not to take the witness stand in his upcoming hush money trial.
Honig, on the Wednesday edition of CNN’s “The Lead,” told Jake Tapper that you “never quite know” what the former president will do and called it “unlikely” for Trump to take the stand.
“It’s quite rare in a criminal case,” Honig added.
The presumptive GOP presidential nominee has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to covering up hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The trial is scheduled to start Monday.
He claimed last month that he wouldn’t have a problem testifying in the trial.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he told reporters at the time.
Honig noted that there was a “bit of a preview” already of how Trump might go about testifying, referring to the former president taking the stand in the New York civil fraud trial last year.
“He took the stand in the civil case in New York, and that went dreadfully for Donald Trump. If I was his lawyer, I might try to remind him of that,” said Honig of the chaotic testimony.
He went on to declare that he expects Trump not to take the stand if any sort’ve “reason or sanity” prevails, adding that he would “implore” him to behave himself in front of the jury.
H/T: Mediaite