department store in the mi 90s. trump has repeatedly denied. three days ago, the judg refused trump s lawyers reques to tell the jury the forme president is excused fro attending the trial in new yor city trump s lawyers side logistical difficulty fo in-person appearances, but lef the door open to trump takin the witness stand. joining us now, lisa rubin msnbc legal analyst. lisa, start with, this wil trump show up for the trial? does he need to in this case and how likely would taking th witness stand the at thi moment let s start with your secon question, he doesn t have to this is a civil trial, notwithstanding the fact the e jean carroll is suing trump fo the sexual s ultimate self she has a claim for batter under new york state law and for defamation trump is not required to appear frankly, neither is carole those are the rules for civi trials do i think trump will show up? i think that depends, in large part, on how things are goin and whether he perceives tha his testimony is
evidence in certain situatio is by putting trump on the witness stand. the documents case it becomes fascinating case for donal trump on the witness stand because he has already confessed a couple of times, again tonight, he did it in hi speech in mar-a-lago, talkin about the documents case, wher there was a massive developmen today where the appeals cour ruled against donald trump saying no. all those witnesses that hav been ordered to testify, the have to testify, no executiv privilege. they did that on really, ver quick timetable, like yo predicted. here is trump, here s hi confession tonight in the documents case. as president i have the righ to declassify documents on the process is automatic if. i take them with me it i automatic. so there is testimony for jack smith right there if d entremont s to get on th witness stand. so, first, donald trump
right now, and his lawyers kno that they have an incredible danger in putting him on the stand under oath he would get exposed to perjur charges, and because this case does ultimately come down to donald trump s word agains other individuals in this case if he cannot take the witnes stand, they re just does not seem to be a route to a no guilty without taking th witness stand. now, and again, for a crime that has already been proven the person who helped donald commit the crime was already convicted of the crime so that is another factor that donald republican enablers d not seem to be factoring in. plus, of course, there is that need that he seems to have t put himself out there no matte how bad that might be for him. so it is going to be fascinating to see wha happens. i have to be honest, at the en
stand, they re just does not seem to be a route to a no guilty without taking th witness stand. now, and again, for a crime that has already been proven the person who helped donald commit the crime was already convicted of the crime so that is another factor that donald republican enablers d not seem to be factoring in. plus, of course, there is that need that he seems to have t put himself out there no matte how bad that might be for him. so it is going to be fascinating to see wha happens. i have to be honest, at the en of the day and i am not lawyer of course but fro everything that we have seen, do not think it matters one wa or the other mary trump, thank you ver much for joining us on this very important and histori night. we really appreciate havin your perspective tonight thank you lawrence. mary trump gets tonight s last word as she should.