Trump Shouldn’t Testify Under Oath: This Would Weaken His Presidency Even More As He Doesn’t Know When to Pipe Down and Listen

President Trump should not testify before Congress because he doesn’t know when to pipe down, and doesn’t care to either.

I’m sorry to say that about him, but he’s even more of a loose cannon than I had predicted he would be during the election.   I remain unconvinced that he’s temperamentally suited to be President.

I am convinced, however, that if Trump were to go before Congress and testify, that neither the Dems nor Reps would confine themselves to asking only about former FBI Director Comey’s testimony.  Trump has a lot of controversies going on, and the temptation to go after Trump’s wall, his travel ban, Michael Flynn, the entire Russia affair, witness tampering, obstruction of justice and all the other yaadaa yaadaa swirling around the President would be too tempting to ignore.

I would like to note that there is precedence for sitting Presidents and Vice Presidents to go before Congress to testify.  Some examples:

President Washington testified before the entire Senate on the various Indian treaties of the time.

President Lincoln (1862) went to testify before the House Judiciary Committee about a leak in the White House.  President Lincoln helped to free a New York Herald reporter who had refused to name his source that had given him an advanced copy of Lincoln’s State of the Union speech.  Congress was convinced that Mary Lincoln was the source, but President Lincoln assured them that no member of his family was involved.

Vice President Colfax (1873) went before the House Select Committee to answer charges that he was involved in the Credit Mobiler scandal.  Colfax had denied owning stock in the company, but got caught in a lie.  He did not run for office again.

President Wilson (1919) went before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to extoll the benefits of joining the new League of Nations following World War I.  The Senate rejected the treaty twice and the U.S. never joined the League.

President Ford (1974) went before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice & the House Judiciary Committee on why he gave former President Nixon a full presidential pardon. 

Former Presidents have also testified before Congress, including Theodore Roosevelt (twice), Harry S. Truman, and Gerald R. Ford after his term of office (on the bicentennial of the Constitution).

Because of Trump’s repeated changing of his stories, he’d be put into a real negative light, much more so than he is right now.

I think he should tell Congress “no” to testifying.  He has nothing to gain, except petty revenge against Comey, and much more to lose.

I can’t help but think that he’s looking to be kicked out of office so he can resume his business dealings.