Trump Chickens Out Of Testifying As Defense Officially Rests

The defense team rested their case in Donald Trump's hush money trial a little before noon on Tuesday, and the former President never took the stand. Trump had promised multiple times that he would be testifying in his own defense, and the consensus was that this would be a horrible idea for his trial team. Apparently he took the advice of his lawyers - and the prevailing legal scholars - but that doesn't change the fact that he still chickened out of doing what he said he would do. Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins discusses this.

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*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

So the defense, of course, has officially rested in Donald Trump's hush money trial in Manhattan, which means all that's left are closing arguments that are set for next Tuesday, which will then immediately be followed by jury deliberations. So we could get a verdict in this Trump trial as early as next Wednesday. Hell, if the jury's quick about it, we may even have it Tuesday afternoon. Who knows? Either way, this thing is coming to an end very quickly, and once it comes to that end, we'll know whether or not it's going to impact the 2024 presidential race, because a lot of voters out there, millions of them actually have said, I'll vote for Trump now, but if he gets a criminal conviction, I'm not gonna vote for him. So again, there's a lot hanging in the balance that could be determined. We could have, uh, results, knowledge of it in the next week.

So that's pretty exciting, right? But before we get to that part, it's important to point out one very weird thing. You see, Donald Trump had told us all the way through March and April, right up to before this trial started, that he was absolutely going to testify. Uh, uh, Tuesday after the defense rested, everybody was pulling up those old posts from Donald Trump on truth social where he said he was gonna testify. He was excited to testify he wanted to do this, but he didn't do it. He chickened out. He took the coward's way out at the very last moment, even though as recently as three days ago, he was telling us, oh, I want to testify. I want to do it, but he didn't because he is in fact a pathetically weak little coward. But legally speaking, that was the smartest thing to do. And Donald Trump had been getting advice from those closest to him for several weeks now, telling him, don't be an idiot.

Don't take the stand. Let me read you a couple of these quotes. This first one is from an unnamed Republican lawmaker, but they said the jury would hate him if they don't already and would kill whatever chances he has left of a not guilty verdict. Other sources stress that Trump taking the stand would be a gift to prosecutors because he could be easily baited into lying under oath. Those are sources that spoke to Rolling Stone. By the way, uh, one lawyer close to Trump, who's known him for years said, hell no. Why did, did somebody say that? It'd be a good idea. And one person close to Trump said he wanted his supporters to believe he was unafraid of testifying, even if he didn't actually want to. And that source said he has privately complained about idiots who say he's fearful of taking the stand in this case or the others against him.

But you are afraid. You are afraid. Let's be honest. And guess what? You know what? It's okay to be afraid. Like this is a big deal. This is not only determining your political future, but it could determine whether or not you spend the rest of your life behind bars. It's deal, it's a big decision. And as much as I dislike Donald Trump, I'm not gonna begrudge him being afraid to testify. What I am gonna call him out for is trying to, you know, pretend he is something that he is not. He is not a tough guy. He is not a big brave man. He is a liar who told us he would do it just to make his supporters think he was stronger than he is. And that is the ultimate showing of weakness.