chancery wrote: ↑Fri May 05, 2023 10:25 am
From Inner City Press, more detail about the exchanges between Judge Kaplan and counsel on the subject of testimony by Trump:
Tacopina: What about the charging conference? Judge Kaplan: I am to know if I am calling the jury off at 10 am Monday. Tacopina: Why would you?
Tacopina soooooo doesn’t want his client to testify. But after what the judge
just said about leaving the door open for Trump to change his mind, it makes you wonder…
Was he not paying attention? Does he know his client, like, at all?
I agree with those who have said it would be a disaster for Trump to testify. And I’m sure Tacopina has advised him to stay away, and for the love of all that is holy, don’t get anywhere near the witness stand. But I also think Trump is a narcissist who may not be able to help himself.
I’m 50/50 on whether he testifies.
Parenthetically, if I were Judge Kaplan, if Trump decides not to testify I’d get that waiver on the record. I might not necessarily make him show up in person, but I’d get him on zoom or the phone or whatever, put him under oath, explain his right, and make him say that he knows he has the right to testify, and that he knowingly and voluntarily waives that right. I wouldn’t take Tacopina’s word for it — not because I don’t trust Tacopina, but because I don’t trust Trump. Why give him the opportunity to argue to the appellate court that he either didn’t waive the right to testify, or that the waiver was not knowing and voluntary.
Edited for clarity…
"Hey! We left this England place because it was bogus, and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too!" -- Thomas Jefferson