The judge overseeing Donald Trump's criminal hush-money trial on Monday ruled that prosecutors can confront the former president with his past misconduct if he chooses to testify.
Merchan ruled that prosecutors can ask Trump about six determinations in four previous court cases, according to NBC News, while noting that he "greatly curtailed" the list of topics the district attorney's office sought to ask about.
Prosecutors can ask about Trump's civil fraud ruling and his repeated violations of a gag order in the case as well as the defamation and rape trials brought by writer E. Jean Carroll and another lawsuit in which the Trump Foundation was found to be engaged in repeated self-dealing.
Trump shook his head several times as Merchan read the ruling, according to The New York Times.
The order "significantly increased the potential blowback" Trump could face if he takes the stand, noted The Times' Alan Feuer.
"Although Trump has said he wants to testify in his own defense, this ruling could short-circuit that, essentially defeating the purpose of him taking the stand," added the Times' Benjamin Protess.
CNN legal analyst Elie Honig warned before Monday's ruling that Trump testifying "would be a disaster."
"Anyone who takes the stand is taking an enormous risk," he said. "I know on TV everyone takes the stand because it's dramatic, [but] it's quite rare in the real world. Here, if you're Donald Trump – I mean, look, it would just be a disaster if you get caught in a contradiction as a defendant taking the stand, it's over. If you get caught in a lie, if the jury doesn't like you, it's over. I would beg, plead, urge him – I don't think he is going to take the stand. I think he's positioning right now. I just it's so tactically self-defeating, I can't see it happening."
Fellow CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen agreed, noting that Trump "cannot open his mouth without risking a lie."
"So I think it's extremely perilous that Donald trump makes his own case worse, compromises himself in front of the jury," he said. "That's in the liability phase. That's in terms of guilty or not. But then there's a sentencing that will come after that if he is held guilty. And the one thing judges hate more than anything else is when a defendant gets on the stand and lies to them and their juries."
Testifying "considerably worsens his peril at sentencing, which I already think is significant," he added.
