In the event that Donald Trump himself testifies as a witness in his defense, his attorneys aim to restrict the scope of questions that prosecutors are allowed to ask him during cross-examination.
This afternoon, attorneys for the prosecution and the defense fought over the matter. Specifically, when given the chance to question Trump under oath, defense attorney Emil Bove asked Justice Juan Merchan not to let prosecutors present a number of recent civil litigation that Trump has lost. Defamation action brought by E. Jean Carroll against Trump; civil fraud case brought by Tish James, the attorney general of New York, against Trump and his colleagues in business; and a failed lawsuit that Trump himself launched in Florida against Hillary Clinton are all examples of civil lawsuits.
Due to the lower burden of proof in civil lawsuits compared to criminal trials, Bove contended that a jury could mistakenly find that they had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Another thing he mentioned is that the lawsuits are still pending appeals. Evidence law, according to prosecutor Matthew Colangelo, offers them a lot of room to bring in proof of past “bad acts”; the fact that they’re only trying to bring up matters that have already been resolved in court demonstrates their “extremely narrow and tailored approach.”