After the first day of former President Donald Trump‘s criminal trial, where he faces 34 felony counts for allegedly falsifying business documents to cover up payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election, one of Trump’s lawyers, Will Scharf, was interviewed by Kaitlin Collins on CNN.
When asked if he would advise his client to testify at the trial, Scharf said: “I think President Trump would be a very compelling witness in this case. I think that his testimony would be able to explain, as would other witnesses’ testimony, that he did nothing wrong here.”
Trump attorney Will Scharf on why he thinks Trump should testify in the criminal hush money trial: pic.twitter.com/br0696IgJI
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) April 16, 2024
Note: The second day of the trial will include a hearing on the scope of the DA’s cross examination of Trump if he decides to testify.
As MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin explained (below): The proceeding is “designed to ensure that a defendant who elects to testify does so in an informed way, knowing what areas are likely to be explored when he is cross-examined.”
That proceeding — known as a Sandoval hearing because of the 1974 New York case for which it’s named — is designed to ensure that a defendant who elects to testify does so in an informed way, knowing what areas are likely to be explored when he is cross-examined. 2/
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) April 16, 2024
Scharf, a lifelong conservative who says he’s “in the trenches, battling for the MAGA movement and fighting for its leader,” is also running for Attorney General in Missouri.
Scharf, who also boasts of helping to secure the confirmations of Trump-appointed Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, is running against fellow conservative, incumbent AG Andrew Bailey.
Trump has yet to endorse a candidate in Missouri’s Attorney General race. Republicans get to vote on August 6.