As part of his never-ending pursuit of big ratings, Donald Trump has reportedly floated the idea of giving “live” testimony to the January 6 committee following the unanimous vote to subpoena the former president. At the time, Maggie Haberman said that Trump’s legal team has to be concerned about the disastrous idea, and that appears to be the case.
According to a new report, Trump’s team has been adamant about not letting him go in front of the committee under any circumstances. “Absolutely f*cking not,” a Trump advisor told Rolling Stone along with others who addressed the elephant in the room: Trump will almost certainly perjure himself.
Several of Trump’s attorneys and political counselors have directly told the ex-president this month that any testimony under oath before that panel would be an awful idea for him, according to this source and two other people with knowledge of the matter. The advisers cautioned Trump that committee members would mine his testimony for potential perjury charges, particularly given Trump’s penchant for lying.
Former White House attorney Ty Cobb took things even further by not only going on the record, but also citing Trump’s 14-page rant about the January 6 committee after they voted to issue a subpoena.
“It is clear that testifying would be a bad idea, as highlighted by the fact that his initial reaction to the subpoena included a multi-page screed where he repeated the completely discredited theories of the Big Lie,” Cobb told Rolling Stone. “I would like to believe his lawyers did not see that before it went out, but whether they did or didn’t, each scenario is scary.”
He also agreed with the perjury trap concerns. “Trump is uniquely susceptible to that because he is so easily provoked,” Cobb said.
(Via Rolling Stone)