Trump said he ‘absolutely’ planned to testify in his hush money trial. So what changed?

Donald Trump’s opportunity to testify in his historic criminal hush money trial came and went on Tuesday morning with the former president choosing not to take the stand to defend himself from charges connected to a $130,000 payment to a porn star.

Mr Trump’s defense team rested its case after calling just two witnesses including Robert Costello, a lawyer and Mr Trump ally who was called in to undermine Michael Cohen’s credibility.

Whether or not the former president would testify was a key question on everyone’s lips even before the trial got under way – a question that was exacerbated by Mr Trump’spast hints that he would. 

For weeks, the former president played a will-he won’t-he game with reporters on the matter.

Back in early April, he told reporters that he would “absolutely” testify.

“I don’t know, I’m testifying. I tell the truth,” he said before the trial got under way. “I mean, all I can do is tell the truth. And the truth is that there’s no case, they have no case.”

He later doubled down, telling reporters outside the New York courtroom that he wanted to take the stand.

But later, after sitting through seven days of the trial, he changed his tune, saying he would “if it’s necessary.”

“Well I would if it’s necessary. Right now, I don’t know if you heard about today. Today was just incredible,” he told Newsmax.

“People are saying – the experts, I’m talking about legal scholars and experts – they’re saying, ‘What kind of a case is this? There is no case’.”

Legal experts previously warned that Mr Trump’s decision to testify could easily be used against him, given his history of speaking loosely.

Whether Mr Trump chose not to testify under the advice of his lawyers or for other reasons is unclear.

But it’s not