Key Takeaways from Trump Hush-Money Trial: Hope Hicks Testifies

Hope Hicks steered Donald J. Trump through scandals as he ran for the White House, and after he attained it.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

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Hope Hicks, a former top aide to former U.S. President Donald Trump, is cross examined by defense lawyer Emil Bove during Trump's criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York City, U.S. May 3, 2024 in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg

Key Takeaways from Trump Hush-Money Trial: Hope Hicks Testifies

By Walid Kassan
tellususa.com

NEW YORK - Gasps were heard in the overflow courtroom when Hope Hicks was called as a witness on Friday in Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan. This was an audible sign of the anticipation as Mr. Trump’s former press secretary and White House communications director took the stand. Her testimony ended the trial’s third week in dramatic fashion.

During her nearly three hours on the stand, Ms. Hicks described the impact on Mr. Trump’s campaign of the so-called “Access Hollywood” tape, in which Mr. Trump bragged about grabbing women’s genitals. As soon as the tape was disclosed in October 2016, Ms. Hicks said she knew it would be “a massive story.”

Ms. Hicks took the stand under a subpoena and mentioned that she was nervous. At one point, early in the cross-examination, she broke down in tears.

The Manhattan district attorney has charged Mr. Trump, 77, with falsifying 34 business records to hide a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who says she and Mr. Trump had a tryst in 2006 while he was married. Mr. Trump, the first American president to face criminal prosecution, has denied the charges and says he did not have sex with Ms. Daniels. If convicted, he could face probation or prison time.

Here are five takeaways from Mr. Trump’s 11th day, and third week, on trial:

1. A scandalous recording resurfaces

Ms. Hicks, now a communications consultant, testified to her fast rise in the Trump family orbit, going from working for his daughter Ivanka to press secretary for Mr. Trump’s campaign. It was in that role that, in October 2016, she had to confront what she called the “intense” fallout from the revelation of the “Access Hollywood” tape.

The judge in the case, Juan M. Merchan, has said the tape itself cannot be played, but jurors saw a transcript of it on Friday in an email sent to Ms. Hicks by a reporter from The Post.

2. “Deny, deny, deny.”

The need for damage control did not abate, however, as Ms. Hicks was confronted with the story of Karen McDougal and a mention of Ms. Daniels in an article by The Wall Street Journal just days before the 2016 election. The story reported that Ms. McDougal, a former Playboy model, had been paid $150,000 in August 2016 by the parent company of The National Enquirer, which then suppressed her story of an affair with Mr. Trump that he has denied.

Ms. Hicks recalled consulting with Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, who eventually paid Ms. Daniels to keep quiet. Mr. Cohen denied the stories, drafting a proposed response calling them “completely untrue,” and Ms. Hicks told The Journal the same thing.

Indeed, even as the “Access Hollywood” tape was coming out, Ms. Hicks said one strategy — which she documented in an email to other senior Trump aides — was simple: “Deny, deny, deny.”

3. Election pressures were huge.

Earlier in the week, Keith Davidson, a Los Angeles lawyer, testified about deals he negotiated for Ms. Daniels and Ms. McDougal during the closing months of the 2016 campaign, when Mr. Trump was battling Hillary Clinton.

The election was a constant topic, with Mr. Davidson pressuring Mr. Cohen for payment as Election Day loomed and Ms. Daniels threatening to blow up the deal as days ticked down.

4. Trump’s voice was heard in court, and outside, too.

Prosecutors on Tuesday played video clips of Mr. Trump’s denials of sexual assault while on the campaign trail, as well as part of a deposition Mr. Trump gave in a lawsuit in which he was found liable for sexual abuse.

And on Wednesday, Mr. Trump blasted the criminal case while campaigning, calling Justice Merchan “crooked” and “conflicted.”

5. The defense begins its case.

Back in court on Thursday, jurors heard a conversation Mr. Cohen had recorded with a lawyer at the Trump Organization, in which they discussed the payment to Ms. Daniels. The defense, which began presenting its case on Thursday, sought to show that Mr. Trump did not plan to break the law by making the payment, and that he did not know it would be illegal.