Trump says he would testify in upcoming hush money trial

Donald
Trump
said
Friday
that
he
would
testify
under
oath
in
his
criminal

hush
money
trial,
which
is
set
to
begin
in

New
York
on
Monday.

“All
I
can
do
is
tell
the
truth,”
said
Trump,
who
is

charged
with
34
counts
of
falsifying
business
records, “and
the
truth
is
that
there’s
no
case.”

The
presumptive
Republican
presidential
nominee
spoke
at
a

press
conference
with
House
Speaker
Mike
Johnson,
R-La.,
at
Trump’s
Florida
resort
home
Mar-a-Lago.

The
trial
—
the
first
ever
against
a
former
president
—
centers
on
a
hush
money
payment
in
late
2016
to
porn
star
Stormy
Daniels,
who
says
she
had
an
extramarital
affair
with
Trump
years
earlier.

Manhattan
District
Attorney
Alvin
Bragg
accuses
Trump
of
facilitating
that
payment
and
others
to
unlawfully
hide
information
from
voters
ahead
of
the
2016
presidential
election,
which
Trump
would
go
on
to
win.

Trump
is
expected
to
be
in
court
throughout
the
trial,
which
could
last
over
six
weeks.

Asked
at
Mar-a-Lago
what
he
will
be
looking
for
when
the
jury
selection
process
begins
Monday,
Trump
said, “Jury
selection
is
largely
luck.
It
depends
who
you
get.”

He
went
on
to
once
again
attack
the
presiding
judge,
Juan
Merchan,
accusing
him
of
having
a
conflict
of
interest
that
requires
his
recusal
from
the
case.

Trump
and
his
lawyers
have
said
that
conflict
is
that
Merchan’s
daughter
works
for
a
Democratic
political
firm.
Merchan
already
rejected
that
argument
last
year,
but
Trump’s
lawyers
recently
filed
another
recusal
request
on
similar
grounds.
Trump
has
repeatedly
targeted
the
judge’s
daughter
on
social
media,
prompting
Merchan
to
expand
a
gag
order
on
Trump.

Johnson,
whose
role
leading
the
narrowly
divided
House
is
being
challenged
from
within
his
own
party,
had
traveled
to
Florida
to
meet
with
Trump,
the
GOP’s
de
facto
leader
and
by
far
its
most
influential
member.

The
two
men
held
a
press
conference
to
announce
a
bill
purporting
to
strengthen
election “integrity”
by
requiring
proof
of
U.S.
citizenship
to
vote,
even
though
it
is
already
illegal
for
noncitizens
to
vote.