Donald Trump mocked after reversing his decision to testify in a New York trial

Social media users mocked the decision of Donald Trump to withhold a second round of testimony at his civil fraud trial in New York.

Earlier in the day, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that he “VERY SUCCESSFULLY & CONCLUSIVELY” testified in November and saw no reason to appear again.

Christopher Kise, Counsel for Trump, told Newsweek in an emailed statement Sunday night that the former president had nothing more to say to Judge Arthur Engoron in the $250 million financial fraud trial.

“President Trump’s testimony, along with the testimony of the actual bankers and the experts, has established that the SOFC values were conservative and in compliance with governing accounting standards, that the banks had no issues with those SOFCs, viewed President Trump as a prized client and were paid back in full with millions in interest,” Kise said in a statement.

Attorney General Letitia James is “continuing her rabid and unreasonable pursuit of President Trump,” according to Trump’s Counsel. There is no compelling reason for President Trump to testify further in this case under these circumstances.”

However, Trump’s detractors on X, formerly Twitter, appeared to have enough to say in the aftermath of Sunday’s revelation.

In a post on X, Ben Meislas, co-founder of MeidasTouch, an independent news platform, called the former president a “coward.”

“Predicting Trump was not going to testify on direct examination at the New York Attorney General trial was obvious,” Meislas wrote in a blog post. “His pathology is on his sleeve.” He’s a malignant narcissist, a pathological liar, a psychopath, but he’s a genuine coward at heart.”

Predicting Trump was not going to testify on direct examination at the New York Attorney General trial was obvious. He wears his pathology on his sleeve. He’s a malignant narcissist, a pathological liar, a sociopath, but fundamentally, at his core, he is a total coward.

— Ben Meiselas (@meiselasb) December 10, 2023

MSNBC host Katie Phang posted, “JUST IN: Donald Trump has chickened out and will NOT testify tomorrow in his own defense case-in-chief, in the civil fraud case being pursued by NY Attorney General @TishJames.”