It could be very dangerous for former President Donald Trump to testify next month in the New York civil business fraud case against him, former New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano told Newsmax on Monday.
Napolitano explained on Newsmax's "Wake Up America" that when Trump "takes the witness stand, because he is a party in the case, they can ask him about anything ... that can affect his credibility."
The former judge said that "this is very, very dangerous for [Trump], because the ... government lawyers here can ask him about ... classified documents, they can ask him about January 6, they can ask about the Georgia case, they can ask him if he really won the election."
Napolitano emphasized that the way to reduce the possible damage of such testimony is for Trump's defense team to try to control him by going through a significant amount of preparation.
The former judge added, however, that if you know Trump, "it is very difficult to do that" effectively.
Napolitano said there could be many fireworks during the court hearings, because three of Trump's children are to testify.
He said, "what is interesting is that [his children are not] testifying for witnesses for the Trump organization. They are being called against their will as witnesses for the government."
Napolitano stressed that "it is very, very unusual and somewhat risky for the government to call the defendants as its own witnesses, but, as this is not a criminal case, there is no right not to testify, and thus the government can call them."
Napolitano added that the "government is basically going to say, 'Did you sign this document? Did you order this to be done? Did you approve of this number?'"
He further explained that Ivanka Trump, who was a defendant in the case, was removed as a defendant when an appeals court overruled the judge, and ruled that whatever she did, if anything, was outside the statue of limitations. "[Ivanka Trump] appealed to the appellate division to block the government from calling her, but lost that appeal."
Napolitano said that this case could help Trump in the presidential elections "with Republicans, who lately have been skeptical about government in general and very skeptical of government when it is run by the Democrats."
But he pointed out that he doesn't know if the case "will help [Trump] as much with Democrats or independents."
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Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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