Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday in an interview that he'd "absolutely" take the witness stand in his own defense if the criminal cases against him go to trial.
"Oh yes, absolutely. ... That, I would do," Trump said when asked by radio host Hugh Hewitt if he'd testify. "That, I look forward to."
Trump did not specify which of the four criminal cases against him he'd be willing to testify in, and also suggested that none of them will actually make it to trial.
"They’ll get dismissed, but we’re going to be asking, we’re going to be asking for dismissals of these politically motivated cases," Trump said.
"This is a scam. This is election interference," he contended.
Defense lawyers typically advise clients not to take the witness stand, and Trump has not testified publicly since he was elected president in 2016.
He declined to testify in a civil battery and defamation trial brought by writer E. Jean Carroll earlier this year, and also declined an offer to testify at his second impeachment trial in 2021.
He has sat for closed-door civil depositions, including for the Carroll case and another lawsuit that's been filed by the New York state attorney general's office.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in the four cases against him in New York, Florida, Washington, D.C., and Georgia.
In New York, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to his role in hush money payments toward the end of his 2016 presidential campaign.
In Florida, Trump is facing a federal indictment brought by special counsel Jack Smith alleging he illegally held on to and mishandled highly sensitive national security information, and then tried to obstruct the federal probe into the documents.
In Washington, Smith has charged Trump with conspiring to defraud the U.S. in the aftermath of the 2020 election and trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of presidential power to Joe Biden.
In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has charged Trump and 18 others with racketeering and related charges, alleging they plotted to overturn the results of Biden's win in the state.
