Former federal prosecutor Sunny Hostin warned on Tuesday that it could be risky for prosecutors to put former first lady Melania Trump on the stand in her husband’s Manhattan hush-money trial.
Because the case centers on hush money allegedly paid by former President Donald Trump to ex-porn star Stormy Daniels to keep an alleged affair quiet, Hostin argued that the right response from Melania Trump could create reasonable doubt for the jury.
WATCH:
Sunny Hostin fears Melania Trump being called to testify in the hush money trial against former President Trump because she could easily convince the jury he's not guilty.
"… you're going to have at least one juror on that jury saying, well, if she doesn't care, why should I?" pic.twitter.com/k6QSTCnygF— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 17, 2024
“I will say this. New York has this marital communications law, spousal privilege, and so he would have to waive that privilege for her to testify and I don’t think he would do that,” Hostin explained. “I don’t think he wants her to testify, I don’t think he wants to put her through that, I don’t think she wants to be put through that.”
“So I can’t imagine the prosecution would call her, because that is really a gamble,” she continued. “Because if she says on the witness stand, you know, ‘He told me that the affair — was not true, and I believe him’ … you’re going to have at least one juror on that jury saying, well, if she doesn’t care, why should I? And so I just think it’s such a big gamble, I don’t think he’s going to waive his privilege to put her on the witness stand, and — I don’t think she’s going to testify.”
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During the first two days of the trial, a handful of jurors were selected and Trump’s attorneys made several requests related to the trial schedule. Judge Juan Merchan denied their request for the former president to be excused from court in order to be in attendance when the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on presidential immunity. Merchan did not give a final answer regarding Barron Trump’s graduation ceremony — which is scheduled for mid-May — but told Trump’s team that it would depend on whether things were proceeding on time.