After the January 6 House committee voted unanimously to subpoena Donald Trump, the former president has reportedly calculated a plan to turn the whole thing into a circus. (He also freaked out about it first on Truth Social, as Trump does.) Of course, Trump testifying in front of the committee would be a disaster. His attorneys have historically tried to keep him off the witness stand because there’s always a constant fear that Trump will perjure himself thanks to his tendency to basically say whatever pops into his head. It’s why his lawyers fought tooth and nail to keep him from testifying for Robert Mueller.
However, what Trump wants and his lawyers want are not always the same thing. According to Maggie Haberman, the former president reportedly wants to testify in front of the January 6 committee “live” with cameras. Haberman made the revelation during a recent interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, who couldn’t believe that Trump’s legal team would let him go through with the plan. However, both he and Haberman acknowledged that he’s not exactly working with the best representation these days, which is why at least one of his lawyers is trying to make the live testimony happen. Via Mediaite:
HABERMAN: At least one of his lawyers was sounding people out about the idea today of him — of him testifying and agreeing to it as long as the committee would let him do it live. And so I certainly don’t think they’re all shutting him down. I do think that there are people who would be concerned about it, for the same reason that his lawyers, when he was being investigated by Robert Mueller, the special counsel, were concerned about him meeting with Mueller and testifying, which Trump wanted to and they did not want him to, for the reasons you just said.
Considering the January 6 hearings brought in huge ratings, it completely tracks that Trump wants in on the action with his own live special. That’s peak Trump. Even if the questioning goes horribly wrong for him in front of the entire nation, we’ll never hear the end of it if Trump’s testimony kills in the ratings department. He won’t shut up about it.
(Via Mediaite)