NEW YORK (AP) – Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign is concerned about the potential political damage caused by a tape showing him bragging about sexually assaulting women without their permission. Hope Hicks, a longtime adviser to President Trump, testified Friday in his hush money trial.
Ms. Hicks, a former White House staffer, was coerced into testifying by Manhattan prosecutors, who said her remarks were a result of the uproar surrounding the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, in which President Trump’s then-lawyer accused porn actor Stormi.・We hope that this will strengthen the argument that Mr. Daniels’ burial expenses were rushed. It’s a negative story that could jeopardize his 2016 presidential bid.
Hicks, once one of President Trump’s closest confidants, provided a window into the aftermath of the confusion surrounding the release of the tape, which took place days before a key debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton. The footage was recorded in 2005 but was not released to the public until October 7, 2016, about a month before Election Day. Hicks said she learned of the tape from a Washington Post reporter who broke the story, and was stunned and huddled with other Trump advisers. In response to a reporter’s request to campaign leadership, Hicks forwarded her recommendation to “deny, deny, deny,” she said.
“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 added: “This has only set us back and will be difficult to overcome.”
What you need to know about Trump’s hush money trial:
Prosecutors put her on the stand to strengthen their case that Trump worked to prevent damaging stories about his private life from becoming public as part of a plot to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election. I called. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has sought to establish that relationship not only to secure a conviction, but also to convince the public of the importance of the case. He is the only one of Trump’s four accusers to go to trial this year.
Hope Hicks (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Hicks told jurors that Trump paid Daniels $130,000 to prevent his then-attorney, Michael Cohen, from going public with allegations of a sexual relationship with Daniels. He said he claimed he knew nothing. But Mr. Hicks said that President Trump eventually came to the conclusion that it was wise to bury Mr. Daniels’ story and thought it was “a bad idea to publish it before the election.”
At other points, Hicks’ testimony appeared to help the defense’s argument that the former president was trying to protect his reputation and family, not his campaign, by shielding him from embarrassing stories about his private life. President Trump has denied any wrongdoing in the incident, calling it an attempt to derail his campaign to take back the White House in November.
Under cross-examination by Trump’s lawyers, Hicks told jurors that she was worried about the impact the “Access Hollywood” tapes would have on her family. Also, just before the election, when the Wall Street Journal published an article exposing former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s alleged affair, Hicks was concerned that President Trump’s wife would see the article, and He said he asked Hicks not to have newspapers delivered to his home in the morning. .
But when asked whether President Trump was also concerned about the impact the article would have on his campaign, Hicks said everything they talked about during that period was viewed through the lens of the campaign. Ta. Mr. Trump often asked her, “How’s the performance?” as a way to gauge how his appearance, speech and policies resonate with voters, she said.
Ms. Hicks’ close ties to Mr. Trump over the years have drawn the attention of Congressional and criminal investigators alike, and her role in the investigation from Russian election interference to Trump’s defeat and the aftermath of January 2021. In the lead-up to the election on the 6th, she had been requested to testify numerous times on a variety of topics. Riots at the U.S. Capitol.
She seemed hesitant to enter the courtroom, taking a deep breath into the microphone and admitting she was “really nervous.” Later, when Trump’s lawyer Emile Bove began asking her to reflect on her time at the Trump Organization before whisking her away to the 2016 campaign, she began crying on the witness stand and the courtroom erupted for a few moments. I was forced to take a break.
Former President Donald Trump appears in Manhattan criminal court before his trial in New York, Friday, May 3, 2024. (Charlie Tribarrow/Pool Photo via AP)
He calls his former boss “Mr.” Hicks is no longer a top aide to Trump, but when speaking about his time in the White House, he told the court that the last time he had contact with him was in the summer or fall of 2022. When prosecutors began questioning her about her background, they offered heated terms.
She said the political firestorm that followed the tape’s release was so intense that the actual storm disappeared from the headlines. Before this tape was released, the news was dominated by a Category 4 hurricane hurtling toward the East Coast.
“I don’t think anyone remembers” where the hurricane hit, Hicks told jurors.
Hurricane Matthew, which hit Haiti and Cuba as a Category 4 storm, made landfall in South Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane on October 8, 2016, the day after the “Access Hollywood” tape was released.
prosecutor spent a week Detailed testimony about meetings, email exchanges, business transactions and bank accounts was used to lay the foundation for a lawsuit accusing Trump of 34 counts of falsifying internal business records at the Trump Organization. They are setting the stage for pivotal testimony from Cohen, who previously paid Daniels for his silence. he went to jail For a hush money plan.
Testimony will resume on Monday. The trial, which has not yet called key witnesses such as Cohen and Daniels, could continue for more than a month.
One of the most important pieces of evidence disclosed to jurors this week was a transcript of a meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen before the 2016 election, in which he acquired the rights to Mr. McDougall’s article from the National Enquirer. We discussed plans to buy it and make sure it never made it to the press again. Outside. The tabloid had previously bought McDougal’s stories on Trump’s behalf in order to kill them.
At one point, President Trump was heard saying: One-fifty? ”
Just as the week’s trial was coming to a close, Judge Juan M. Marchan ruled against prosecutors’ request to ask Trump about contempt of court for violating a gag order in the case if he chose to testify. was rejected, resulting in Trump’s victory. Machan said allowing it would be “so prejudicial that it would be very difficult for a jury to ignore it.”
President Trump was paid this week. his $9,000 fine He was accused of violating a gag order that prohibits him from speaking publicly about witnesses, jurors and other people involved in the case.
His lawyer, Todd Blanche, told the judge on Friday that he would appeal the finding that Trump violated the gag order. Blanche said she was particularly concerned about so-called reposting, or penalties when Trump shares someone else’s posts with his followers.
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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Colleen Long in Washington and Ruth Brown and Michelle Price in New York contributed to this report.
