Trump has ‘absolute right’ to testify in hush money trial, judge tells him

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal trial said a gag order barring the former president from publicly discussing jurors or witnesses doesn’t prevent him from taking the witness stand.

“I want to stress, Mr. Trump, that you have an absolute right to testify,” Justice Juan Merchan said Friday morning in Manhattan before the jury was brought in. “It is a fundamental right that cannot be infringed upon.”

Trump, on trial for allegedly falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to an adult-film star before the 2016 presidential election, has regularly criticized the gag order. On Thursday, he told reporters, “I’m not allowed to testify. I’m under a gag order, I guess. I can’t testify.”

The gag order “only applies to extra-judicial statements - that is, statements that are made outside of court,” Merchan told Trump directly. “Please let your attorney know if you have any lingering doubts.”

Merchan earlier this week found the former president in contempt of court for violating the gag order on nine occasions and fined him $9,000. The judge will rule soon on three additional alleged violations by Trump, who is campaigning to return to the White House.

When questioned by reporters Friday before entering the courtroom, Trump acknowledged that the gag order prevented him from responding to attacks, but not from testifying.