Prosecutors intend to bring up fraud, sexual abuse cases if Trump testifies in New York criminal trial

If former President Donald Trump chooses to testify in his New York criminal trial, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg says prosecutors want to question Trump about a host of his recent high-profile legal defeats to attack his credibility, according to a filing that was made public Wednesday. 

The list of misconduct includes the almost half billion dollar civil fraud judgment recently handed down in another New York court, a pair of unanimous civil federal jury verdicts finding him liable for defamation and sexual abuse of the writer E. Jean Carroll, gag order violations and sanctions for what a judge concluded was a "frivolous, bad faith lawsuit" against Hillary Clinton. That suit, which was dismissed in 2022, accused Clinton and others of conspiring to hurt Trump's 2016 presidential campaign by alleging he colluded with the Russian government.

The notice is for what's called a Sandoval hearing, when a judge determines the permissible scope of cross-examination and whether a defendant's prior bad acts can be raised if they choose to testify. If Trump chooses not to testify, these topics are unlikely to be raised by prosecutors  at trial. The judge has not said publicly when that hearing will be held.