Trump’s credibility faces test on witness stand
Stakes are high for appearance at his N.Y. trial
Donald Trump took the rally stage on a scorching August day in New Hampshire, a political shark, brazen and sly, as he ridiculed his legal opponents as “racist” and “deranged.”
On Monday, the former president will come face to face with one of those opponents, but he’ll be a predator far from his natural environment — in a courtroom rather than on the stump.
New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, will call Trump to the witness stand at his own civil fraud trial in Manhattan, where, under oath and under fire, the former president will try to convince a single skeptical judge — not a jury — that he did not inflate his net worth to defraud banks and insurers.
Privately, Trump has told advisers that he is not concerned about his time on the stand. He held preparation sessions when he was in New York attending the trial and will again over the weekend before he makes his appearance after court begins Monday morning, according to people briefed on the matter.
The former president believes he can fight or talk his way out of most situations. Frequent visits to the courtroom have also given Trump familiarity with the unwieldy proceeding, where he projects control, often whispering in his lawyers’ ears, prompting their objections to the attorney general’s questions.
Yet Trump is deeply, personally enraged by this trial — and by the fact that his children have had to testify, several people who have spoken with him said — and he may not be able to restrain himself on the stand.
The testimony will push Trump far outside his comfort zone of social media and the rally stage, where he is a master of mockery, a no-holds-barred flamethrower who relishes most opportunities to attack foes. He leveraged that persona during his days as a business owner and fixture of New York’s tabloids and found that it worked just as well in the 2016 presidential race. He has since taken control of the Republican Party, and his style has become a defining influence in contemporary politics.
The witness stand is a different venue. It’s a seat that requires care and control, where lying is a crime and emotional outbursts can land you in contempt of court. Another risk during his time on the stand: Trump, 77, has been showing signs of strain and age on the campaign trail, mixing up the names of foreign leaders and at one point confusing which city he was in.
The test of the former president’s credibility, coherence, and self-control could supply his opponents with ammunition on the campaign trail, where Trump is the leading Republican contender for the White House.
Along with the civil fraud trial, Trump faces four criminal indictments from prosecutors up and down the East Coast. While the varied legal woes present a costly distraction in the midst of his third White House run, Trump has managed to bring the campaign trail to the courthouse, where he casts himself as a political martyr under attack from Democrats like James.
Trump, of course, is no stranger to the courtroom. He has taken the witness stand in at least two other civil trials, most recently a decade ago, in a Chicago case related to his property there. He was cranky and sometimes combative, but ultimately won.
During a long and litigious career, he has also testified under oath in numerous depositions — more than 100 by his own estimate — and he has made it something of a sport to spar with his interrogators. His spontaneity under oath may have cost him: He has lost several lawsuits, and his depositions have often been used against him.
A trial is far weightier than a deposition, and it takes place in a more controlled environment. Trump’s lawyers have long highlighted for him the perils of speaking under oath to those seeking to hold him to account. Trump, eschewing his instinct to talk and bully his way out of a problem, has chosen silence when the legal stakes are highest.