Hope Hicks, the former White House communications director once considered to be a confidante to Donald Trump, was called to testify on Friday.in Trump’s historic hush money trial.
Her testimony was notable in that it bolstered the prosecution’s case that Trump’s team went to great lengths to bury negative stories during the 2016 election.
When a defense attorney started to ask Hicks about her time working at the Trump Organization, she started to cry, prompting a brief break in the courtroom.
Earlier on Friday, two other witnesses — Doug Daus, a digital forensic specialist with the Manhattan district attorney’s office who analyzed former Trump “fixer” Michael Cohen’s cellphone, and Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal with the D.A.’s office assigned to monitor Trump’s social media accounts — both testified.
Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal the $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who is among the witnesses expected to testify in the trial.
The most gripping testimony on Friday came from former Trump aide Hope Hicks. She recounted her experience as Trump’s communications director during the 2016 presidential campaign, including efforts to minimize the damage caused by negative stories about the then-candidate.
- Hicks testified about an email she sent to campaign staffers regarding the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump boasted about being able to sexually assault women. “Deny, deny, deny,” Hicks wrote in regards to questions of the tape’s veracity.
- She also recounted telling the Wall Street Journal that it was “absolutely, unequivocally” false that Trump had sex with adult film actress Stormy Daniels. She made that statement at Trump’s direction, she told the jury.
- But Hicks also portrayed former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump, as a “rogue” employee. “He liked to call himself a fixer, or Mr. Fix-it, and it was only because he first broke it.”
- As Trump’s lawyers began their cross-examination of Hicks, she began crying, leading Judge Juan Merchan to dismiss the jury and call for a short break.
