Donald Trump will not testify in his historic New York hush-money trial, despite saying that he would and claiming that he had not been allowed to.
Defence lawyers for the first president to face criminal charges rested their case on Tuesday, a day after state prosecutors did the same.
Mr Trump is facing 34 felony charges of falsifying business records to cover up payments to keep scandalous stories out of the media during his 2016 presidential campaign.
The three people concerned include adult film star Stormy Daniels.
He has pleaded not guilty to all of the counts.
Mr Trump told reporters several times this spring that he wanted to testify in the legal proceedings.
“I tell the truth – I mean, all I can do is tell the truth,” he said in April.
The former president told Spectrum News this month that he would “probably” testify, and that he “would like to”.
The presumed Republican candidate for this year's presidential elections also claimed that he had not been allowed to testify because of a gag order that prohibits him from commenting on witnesses and court staff.
Judge Juan Merchan corrected Mr Trump a day later, saying that he could testify under the gag order.
David Super, professor of law at Georgetown University, told The National that lawyers would probably advise Mr Trump against speaking under oath, which could complicate his defence.
“I think their preference will be to keep them off the stand,” Mr Super said.
The former president's son, Donald Trump Jr, was asked why his father did not testify in the trial.
“There’d be absolutely no reason – no justification to do that whatsoever,” the younger Mr Trump said.
“Everyone sees it for the sham that it is."
Mr Trump faces charges in other federal and state cases related to allegedly attempting to subvert the 2020 presidential election results and mishandling classified documents.
But the New York trial is probably the only one that will take place before the election.
Closing arguments are expected next Tuesday.
Mr Merchan said that jury deliberations would not take place right away because of scheduling conflicts related to the Memorial Day holiday weekend in the US.
It is expected that jury discussions will begin soon after closing arguments are completed.
The final witness in the trial was Robert Costello – the legal adviser to Mr Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen – who angered the judge on Monday by rolling his eyes and making remarks under his breath.
Mr Merchan cleared the space and threatened to remove Mr Costello if he did not respect the court.
Mr Trump's defence tried to paint the prosecution's witnesses as not credible.
Mr Costello said that Mr Cohen told him that Mr Trump “knew nothing” about the hush-money payment to Daniels, contradicting the prosecution's star witness's testimony.
“Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments, that he did this on his own, and he repeated that numerous times,” he said, according to AP.
Mr Cohen this week told jurors that he had spoken with his boss several times throughout the autumn of 2016 and had “no doubt” that Mr Trump had approved the payment to Daniels.
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A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.
GROUP RESULTS
Group A
Results
Ireland beat UAE by 226 runs
West Indies beat Netherlands by 54 runs
Group B
Results
Zimbabwe tied with Scotland
Nepal beat Hong Kong by five wickets
THREE
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Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash
Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.
Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.
Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.
Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.
Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.
The specs
Price, base: Dh228,000 / Dh232,000 (est)
Engine: 5.7-litre Hemi V8
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 395hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 552Nm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.5L / 100km
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
