Former president and current criminal defendant Donald Trump has effectively used his unique status as a man holding both of those seemingly antithetical titles to raise money for his presidential campaign and to question the legitimacy of the justice system. Trump’s pitch doesn’t work for everyone, but for his true believers — and numerous GOP politicians who need his blessing to continue in their careers — Trump has scored some victories in the so-called “court of public opinion” while he’s been on trial.
The public opinion court, of course, is very different — with a far less stringent set of rules — than the Manhattan court Trump is being criminally tried in, where his guilt or innocence will be determined by a jury, not a poll. Unlike public opinion court, rules that apply in the official court — where evidence is less “spinnable” and facts less fungible — would seem to put Trump, a master spinner, at a disadvantage, especially as testimony taken under oath leaves less room for exaggeration and equivocation.
But contrary to the narrative that Trump is better off in the court of public opinion than in a court governed by strict rules, U.S. Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) is emphasizing an aspect of the official legal protections that are an advantage to Trump, as Swalwell sees it.
The Congressman asserts that in the court of public opinion, Trump should be held responsible in a way a jury is prevented from doing — by holding Trump accountable for his promise to testify at his trial — a testimony that is not expected to materialize.
Just a reminder: the jury absolutely cannot hold it against Trump for not testifying.
BUT YOU CAN. If Trump promised you at a press conference that he’d testify and then doesn’t, you should conclude he’s guilty as hell.
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) May 20, 2024
Due to court rules, the jury, Swalwell points out, cannot “hold it against Trump for not testifying.” But Swalwell tells the public that it can, and should, hold against him a broken promise to testify. The public should also, Swalwell says, draw inferences from Trump’s ghosting on testimony. “If Trump promised you at a press conference that he’d testify and then doesn’t,” Swalwell says, “you should conclude he’s guilty as hell.”