With tears and an open admission of nervousness, Hope Hicks, Donald Trump’s former adviser, appeared on the witness stand in New York City, where she was called to testify in the former US president’s criminal trial for hiding the money.
Friday marked the 11th day of the trial, and Hicks was arguably the most high-profile witness to testify so far.
A former model turned communications director, Hicks was one of Trump’s longest-serving advisers, helping his 2016 presidential campaign navigate the scandals at the heart of the New York criminal case.
Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records around the time of the 2016 election race, related to hush payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Daniels alleged that she and Trump had an affair, and prosecutors argued that Trump tried to buy her silence as a way to influence the election. He was already under scrutiny in 2016 for statements on a leaked tape about his interactions with women.
Trump denied the extramarital affair and insisted he committed no wrongdoing. His defense team argued that Trump simply hoped to spare his family embarrassment — and not interfere in the election.
The New York trial is one of four criminal cases Trump faces as he runs for re-election in November. Here are five takeaways from Friday’s hearings:
Yes, Trump is allowed to testify
The day’s legal drama began before Trump even entered the courtroom, when the former president tried to backtrack on comments he had made the night before.
On Thursday, Trump falsely told reporters, “I am not authorized to testify.”
“This judge is totally conflicted, has placed me under an unconstitutional gag order,” Trump continued. “No one has ever had this before. And we don’t like that.”
But upon returning to court on Friday, Trump attempted to clarify his earlier statement: “The gag order is to not testify. The gag order prevents me from talking about people and responding when they say things about me.”
Thursday’s comments, however, remained Judge Juan Merchan’s first order of business as he took office.
“The order restricting extrajudicial statements does not prevent you from testifying in any way,” Merchan said Friday.
Witnesses from the Public Prosecutor’s Office testify
As testimony continued, the first two witnesses of the day spoke about the technical aspects of the case.
Returning on Thursday was forensic analyst Douglas Daus of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. He has previously shared evidence recovered from Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen’s phone, including secret recordings.
Emil Bove, from Trump’s defense team, tried to get Daus to admit “gaps in the processing of this data”. He highlighted that the events in question took place in 2016 — and Daus received the phone to examine in 2023.
Then another witness from the district attorney’s office took the stand: paralegal Georgia Longstreet. She spoke about evidence gathered from Trump’s social media accounts, including a 2016 post complaining about the level of support he received from female voters.
Hope Hicks takes the witness stand
The third witness of the day was the most anticipated: Hicks, a former member of Trump’s inner circle.
At age 26, after working for Trump’s daughter Ivanka, Hicks was handpicked to be his press secretary at the launch of his 2016 presidential bid.
Prosecutors subpoenaed her to testify about the inner workings of the campaign and the Trump Organization.
Hicks testified that she thought Trump “might have been joking” when he named her his press secretary. But she explained that she was traveling quickly to states like Iowa, campaigning with the then-candidate.
She explained that Trump was very involved in his campaign’s daily media strategy.
“I would say Mr. Trump was responsible,” she said of his authority over press relations. “He knew what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it, and we were all just following his lead.”
Hicks Reflects on Access Hollywood Tape
Much of his testimony, however, revolved around an audio recording known as the Access Hollywood tape, which captured Trump bragging about “grabbing” women by the genitals.
Hicks explained that she became aware of the recording when a Washington Post reporter emailed her a transcript.
“I was worried, very worried,” she said, testifying that she encouraged the Trump campaign to “deny, deny, deny.”
The tape became public in October 2016, a month before that year’s presidential election. Afterwards, Hicks said that Trump was worried about his wife Melania’s reaction.
“I don’t think he wanted anyone in his family to feel hurt or embarrassed by anything that happened in the campaign,” she told the court.
Hicks also spoke about how she became aware of allegations that Trump had affairs with Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Daniels, she said, came up briefly in conversation at a celebrity golf tournament.
She also explained that in November 2016, the Wall Street Journal reported allegations of Trump’s extramarital affairs – and the alleged “capture and kill” scheme orchestrated to suppress coverage in the media.
“He was concerned about how his wife would view this and wanted me to make sure the newspapers were not delivered to his residence that morning,” Hicks said.
At one point, she excused herself from the courtroom in tears, forcing a brief pause in the proceedings.
Trump pays fine for gag order
Friday was the deadline for Trump to pay a $9,000 fine for nine violations of his gag order, resulting from a ruling earlier in the week.
But the former president paid the fine on Thursday, with two bank checks: one for US$2,000 and the other for US$7,000.
That wasn’t the end of the matter, however. As Friday’s court proceedings drew to a close before the weekend recess, prosecutors asked the judge to be able to question Trump about gag order violations.
Under the order, Trump is prohibited from speaking about jurors, witnesses, court staff and others involved in the trial in a way that could affect court proceedings.
But Judge Merchan rejected prosecutors’ request, saying it could unfairly influence the jury.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
