'A lot to lose': Why Trump and his children have entered 'perilous terrain' in fraud case
Ahead of ex-President Donald Trump's family's scheduled testimony in his New York fraud civil trial this week, MSNBC analyst Glenn Kirshner explained why the MAGA hopeful and his three children, Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka Trump, "have a lot to lose."
"Nicolle, this is such perilous terrain for these four Trump witnesses because as you say, the judge has already found Trump liable," Kirshner told Deadline: White House host Nicolle Wallace. "He's already ruled against them, concluding that they were involved in sort of massive systemic years-long business fraud, and now these four witnesses are going to be examined and importantly cross-examined on their business practices that it seems like the judge implicitly has concluded some of it involved fraud. The reason I say it's so perilous — and frankly they would be well advised to just plead the Fifth — nobody wants to plead the fifth because it's not a good look in the court of public opinion. But even more importantly, people don't like to plead the Fifth in the context of a civil case because the finder of fact, ordinarily a jury, can then draw negative inferences from it. They can hold the invocation of their Fifth amendment right against self-incrimination against them."
Kirshner continued, "But listen, Judge Engoron has already granted partial summary judgment and it's all about the disgorgement, how much money they're going to have to pay back at this point. so i'm not sure what the up side is other than perhaps a perceived public relations upside. to these four people — Don Jr., Eric, Ivanka, and Donald Trump himself, testifying substantively, you know, it seems like their attorneys would advise them, 'listen, just plead the fifth and let's get this over with because you can only hurt yourself.' If they lie, Nicolle, I'm not saying this is a perjury trap — because the only thing you have to do to escape from a perjury trap is tell the truth — but maybe there's something more important to Donald Trump than the truth — like his perceived value and wealth. But you know, if they lie under oath, I would not put it past New York Attorney General Letitia James to charge them criminally with perjury. So it seems to me they have a lot to lose and almost nothing to gain."
Watch the video below or at this link.
Trump family enters 'perilous terrain' in New York fraud case: analystyoutu.be
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