NEW YORK (AP) – Former White House official and donald trump Counselor Hope Hicks took the stand Friday in the former president’s hush money trial and described how the 2016 presidential campaign became embroiled in a political firestorm over a recording in which he bragged about grabbing women without their permission. .
Hicks, once one of President Trump’s closest confidants, has been subpoenaed by prosecutors, and the controversy over the leak of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tapes has come to a head, with Trump’s then-lawyer saying he posed a threat to the nation. They are trying to prove that they rushed to pay porn actors to bury any negative stories they might expose. His 2016 presidential bid.
Hicks’ testimony gave jurors a glimpse into the chaotic aftermath of the Trump campaign after the tapes were released days before a key debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton. Hicks said he was stunned and huddled with other Trump advisers after learning of the tape’s existence from a Washington Post reporter.
“I had full faith that this was going to be huge news and dominate the news cycle for the next few days,” Hicks testified. “This was a detrimental development.”
She further added, “This set us back and was difficult to overcome.”
After the tape was released, she asked President Trump’s then-lawyer: michael coen To follow up on another damaging tape rumor. Hicks said she wants to actively seek out the alleged tapes because she doesn’t want anyone to be “blindsided.” In the end, there wasn’t even one.
Four days before the 2016 election, Ms. Hicks was approached by a Wall Street Journal reporter to sell American Media the rights to an article about former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who had an affair with Mr. Trump several years earlier. He said he received a request for comment on an upcoming article about the purchase. Mr. Trump has denied the allegations.
Mr. Hicks recalled getting in touch. Jared Kushner He had hoped to use his connections with Rupert Murdoch, the owner of the Journal’s parent company, to delay the article. Ms. Hicks testified that Mr. Kushner, Mr. Trump’s girlfriend’s son-in-law, told her that Mr. Murdoch was unlikely to be able to reach her in time.
President Trump showed no emotion as Hicks took the stand, but Hicks admitted after taking the microphone that he was “really nervous.” He calls his former boss “Mr.” Mr. Trump,” she told the court, the last time she had contact with him was in the summer or fall of 2022.
Ms. Hicks is no longer a close ally of Mr. Trump, but once prosecutors began questioning her about her background, she spoke in glowing terms about the former president. Hicks praised Trump multiple times in the first minutes of her testimony, describing him as a “very good multitasker and a very hard worker.”
Prosecutors have spent a week using detailed testimony about meetings, emails, business transactions and bank accounts to lay the foundation for a lawsuit accusing Trump of plotting to illegally influence the election. Ta. They are setting the stage for pivotal testimony from Cohen, who paid Daniels $130,000 for his silence before he went to prison for hush money.
Trump’s defense has sought to show that by poking holes in the credibility of prosecution witnesses and silencing the women, Trump was protecting his reputation and family, not his campaign. . The defense also suggested during questioning of a lawyer who represented the two women in hush-money negotiations that Trump was in fact the victim of extortion. President Trump has denied allegations of extramarital sexual contact.
Hicks’ long-standing close relationship with President Trump has drawn the attention of Congressional and criminal investigators alike, leading to the investigation into everything from Russian election interference to Trump’s defeat and the aftermath of January 2021. Her testimony has been sought numerous times on a variety of topics leading up to the election on the 6th. Riots at the U.S. Capitol.
Her testimony came a day after prosecutors played a recording of a meeting between Trump and Cohen just before the 2016 election. There, she discussed a repayment plan for a former Playboy model who claims she had an affair with Trump.
Mr. Cohen was heard telling Mr. Trump about his plan to buy the rights to an article about former Playboy model Karen McDougal from the National Enquirer and ensure it would never be published. The tabloid had previously bought McDougal’s stories on Trump’s behalf in order to kill them.
Cohen said in the recording that he had talked with Allen Weisselberg, then-Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization, about “how to get everything set up with fundraising.”
President Trump’s response can be heard: “What do I have to pay for this?” Fifty-tenths? ”
When Mr. Trump suggested that the payment be made in cash, Mr. Cohen repeatedly objected, saying “no,” but Mr. Trump said “check” before the recording stopped.
Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying internal business records at the Trump Organization. The charges stem from documents such as invoices and checks that were considered legal expenses in Trump Organization records. Prosecutors claim these were actually repayments to Cohen for the $130,000 hush money he paid Daniels.
