Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney for Donald Trump, expressed skepticism about the possibility of the former president testifying in the upcoming hush money trial in New York. Despite Trump’s assertion on Friday that he would “absolutely” testify, Cohen dismissed the idea as highly unlikely during his appearance on MSNBC’s “The Weekend.”
Cohen likened the chances of Trump testifying to an improbability, saying, “The likelihood of Donald Trump being on the stand is equal to the likelihood of me waking up tomorrow 7’6″ and playing center for the New York Knicks—it’s not gonna happen.”
He further critiqued Trump’s capabilities as a defendant and a witness. “We also know that he’s not a good defendant,” Cohen remarked. “He’s not a good witness. We watched that with the E. Jean Carroll case when he couldn’t even identify E. Jean Carroll and confused her with Marla Maples.”
Cohen added, “He is not a good witness. He’s not going to take the stand. In fact, I hope that I’m wrong. Because I think that would be absolutely classic for America to be able to see Donald Trump on the witness stand trying to defend himself in a case that’s indefensible.”
The trial, which centers on 34 charges of falsifying business records related to a payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from discussing an alleged affair with Trump ahead of the 2016 election, is set to begin with jury selection on Monday. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied the affair.
On Friday, Judge Juan Merchan rejected another of Trump’s attempts to delay the trial, confirming that jury selection will proceed as scheduled.
Reflecting on the jury selection process, Trump voiced his concerns about the fairness of the trial location, stating, “Jury selection is largely luck. It depends who you get. It’s very unfair that I’m having a trial there.”