NEW YORK — Donald Trump, Republican frontrunner and now convicted felon, said Friday he wanted to testify in his own defense at his hush money trial, but was worried about getting sued over what he might have said on the stand.
“To this day I would’ve liked to have testified, but you get something slightly wrong,” like the weather, “and they’ll sue you for perjury,” he said during a press conference held the morning after being convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to keep his alleged tryst with Stormy Daniels from the American electorate.
Speaking at Trump Tower, one of the scenes of his crimes, Trump also took a shot at one of the state’s key witnesses – fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen, in what may have been a violation of the gag order still in place prohibiting comments about trial participants.
“You know, he’s a sleaze bag,” Trump said.
The 77-year-old Trump also repeated his criticism of the case against him – though his campaign says it had raised more than $34.8 million off becoming the first American president in the nation’s history be convicted of a crime.
“There was no crime,” Trump said in remarks to reporters in the lobby of his namesake Fifth Ave. skyscraper. “We’re gonna be appealing this scam.”
The former president did not take questions.
When asked about a potential gag order violation, Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, told The News, “I’m not worried.”
Trump learned his fate just after 5 p.m. Thursday, with a jury that had few questions taking less than 12 hours over two days to find him guilty of committing felonies after he ascended to the White House by filing fake paperwork to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels Cohen shelled out 11 days before the election.
In determining Trump guilty, the jurors found him responsible for fraudulently filing 11 checks to Cohen, 11 corresponding invoices, and 12 entries in the Trump Organization’s general ledger, classified as payment for generic legal services and not reimbursement for hush money.
The jury found Trump and his company honchos falsified the records to conceal an underlying criminal conspiracy to promote his candidacy by unlawful means after hearing the prosecution’s monthlong case laying out the plot to pay off the porn star and others with what were effectively illegal campaign contributions to boost his standing with voters.
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