Why Trump 'didn’t do himself any favors' by taking the stand in defamation trial: legal expert
Following Donald Trump's testimony during day five of journalist E. Jean Carroll's defamation trial against him, MSNBC host and legal expert Katie Phang explained why the former president's attempt to take the stand was essentially a waste of time.
"Trump's appearance on the stand today, so clear just how much he wanted to go up there and have his say," Deadline: White House guest host Alicia Menendez said.
"Yeah, but he didn't do himself any favors," Phang replied. "In fact, the whopping two to three minutes he was on the stand went by so quickly and had zero impact, that he actually should not have appeared in the first place. Why? Because, as Judge Kaplan has noted, as you have noted in the setup, this case is about damages. There's no do-overs about liability. Donald Trump, his own worst enemy, could have testified in the first defamation trial and he failed to do so. So there's only one person to blame for why he finds himself completely handicapped for being able to move forward with anything in terms of trying to deny liability in this case.
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The Katie Phang Show host noted, "I will say Alina Habba made some relatively valiant effort by having Donald Trump say 'Yes, I stand by 100% my deposition testimony.' But, Alicia, that makes a big presumption. Remember this is a second defamation trial, that these jurors have any benefit of knowing Donald Trump's denials of whether or not he sexually assaulted and defamed E. Jean Carroll.
She continued, "So, damages. What is that? Money, right? In this instance, the only expert witness testimony we've heard about damages have come from E. Jean Carroll's side, through Professor Humphries, who testified as an expert witness. Because Donald Trump's legal team did such a bad job preparing this case for trial the first time around and even this time around, there was zero defense expert witness that testified on behalf of Donald Trump when it came to whether or not E. Jean Carroll's damages were valid, and the amount being claimed by her made sense."
Phang emphasized, "And so the jury is going to go into the deliberation room tomorrow after closing arguments, after Judge Kaplan has instructed them, again, that liability is not on the table, it's just damages. And so Donald Trump getting on the stand today, listen, he wanted to do the drama. Judge Kaplan wasn't having it. Alina Habba wanted to facilitate the drama for Donald Trump. Judge Kaplan wasn't having it. So what's Donald Trump going to do? Most assuredly, go outside, and pull the drama outside, and pull his testimony outside of the courthouse."
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READ MORE: How Trump 'miscalculated' the 'narrow' but 'important' impact of Carroll trial: ex-GOP rep
