Trump's Fifth Amendment plea could actually be used against him in court — here's how

But while Trump might have protected himself from self-incrimination, that doesn't mean that taking the Fifth couldn't do him any legal harm, wrote Jordan Rubin for MSNBC on Wednesday. Specifically, he said, in civil cases, juries are allowed to infer liability from taking the Fifth — which is what Trump is facing.

"Why can invoking the Fifth Amendment be used against someone in a civil case but not in a criminal case?" said Rubin. "First, let’s look at the text of the amendment itself, which states that a person can’t be 'compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.' And in 1976, the Supreme Court observed that in criminal cases, 'the stakes are higher and the State’s sole interest is to convict.' In that same case, the justices noted 'the prevailing rule that the Fifth Amendment does not forbid adverse inferences against parties to civil actions when they refuse to testify in response to probative evidence offered against them.'"