Former President Trump will not take the stand in his New York criminal trial after his lawyers rested their case on Tuesday, shortly after prosecutors handed down a similar ruling the day before.
“We’re going to take a break immediately — and by rest I mean take a break from the case. We’re not going to take a break,” Trump said outside court Tuesday morning. “I don’t take a break. Sometimes I want to take a break, but I just can’t.”
The defense’s respite triggers the final stage of the historic trial. The judge has scheduled closing statements next Tuesday, after which deliberations will begin.
The decision to remove Trump from the witness stand came after weeks of uncertainty. Mr. Trump has at times told reporters that he might testify (legal experts have warned that testifying in the former president’s first criminal trial is dangerous) and has at times been persistent about the matter. I was ignoring the question.
As of last week, just days before the Manhattan district attorney’s office was expected to conclude its main examination, even Mr. Trump’s own lawyers were unsure whether their client would take the stand.
“This is another decision that we need to think through,” Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche told the judge Thursday.
Trump’s testimony would have been his third time on the stand at his trial in the past year.
The defense called two witnesses in the case: legal analyst Danny Sitko and attorney Robert Costello.
Costello, a lawyer who previously advised Michael Cohen, acted as an intermediary between the Trump White House and Trump’s former fixers after Trump was forced out of the then-president’s inner circle following a federal investigation.
While presiding over the state, jurors saw emails from Costello encouraging Cohen to remain loyal to the former president amid his growing legal problems. Mr. Cohen described the effort as a “pressure campaign” to maintain himself, but Mr. Costello later said: was denied.
Mr. Sitko worked for Mr. Trump’s chief lawyer, Todd Blanche, and frequently passed notes to other lawyers during the trial. Despite the state’s objections, Costello testified for about 10 minutes before taking the stand.
The former president has filed 34 business charges related to hush money payments Cohen made to porn actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump from 2006. Cohen has been charged with falsifying records, which he denies.
Trump has maintained his innocence, saying the records are true and that he had no personal involvement in the plot.
Updated at 10:26 a.m. ET
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