In bombshell testimony Friday, Hope Hicks conveyed cascading concerns within Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign as a raunchy tape and allegations that he had affairs with a Playboy model and a porn star surfaced in the final days of the election.
A close Trump aide who spoke with him daily, Hicks said the Trump campaign feared the possible ramifications of the Hollywood Access tape on the pending election. She also testified that Trump did not want the newspaper delivered to his home on the day a story about his alleged affair with Playboy playmate Karen McDougal was published.
The ninth witness in the trial, Hicks testified tentatively. “I’m really nervous,” she told the room, her blonde hair falling in soft layers over her shoulders.
She later began crying when defense attorney Emil Bove began asking about her early years working for Trump in real estate at the Trump Organization.
Hicks reluctantly adds to the prosecution’s narrative
A rapt jury hung on Hicks’ every word as she discussed the all-out effort to control a report so explosive that coverage of it drove a Category 4 hurricane out of the news. She said Trump’s small, tight-knit campaign feared the possible ramifications of the Hollywood Access tape on their electoral prospects.
Hicks, who joined Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign after working for his real estate agency, was a trusted adviser to Trump during his administration. She followed him to the White House, where she took on the role of handling communications, operating mostly behind the scenes.
Hicks made remarks about Trump’s relationship with key employees at his real estate agency and said she spoke with him daily. Crucially, she offered the court a clear reminder of many of the events and conversations prosecutors presented in their case against Trump, including with his former counsel Michael Cohen and former National Enquirer editor David Pecker.
Previously, Pecker had testified how Hicks was “in and out” of a Trump Tower meeting in August 2015 with Trump and Cohen, where the magazine editor agreed to be “the eyes and ears of the campaign” and where they discussed a plan to “catch and kill” potentially harmful stories.
Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records related to payments made by Cohen. He denied all accusations.
Hicks testified that Trump had his hands in everything
Hicks echoed Pecker, who described Trump as a micromanager. Trump was “very involved” in the campaign’s media strategy, Hicks said. “He knew what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it; he deserves credit for the different messages the campaign focused on.”
It was a small team, and when Hicks, then a campaign spokeswoman, received an email from a reporter asking about the Access Hollywood tape, she recalled forwarding the request for comment to a close circle of advisers, some of which remain with Trump to this day.
Denials
After learning about McDougal and Stormy Daniels — who said they had affairs with Trump and were paid to keep quiet — from a Wall Street Journal reporter who reached out for comment, Hicks said she sought to “buy a little more time ” causing Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to call Rupert Murdoch, the newspaper’s editor.
Ultimately, she issued a statement denying knowledge of any agreement between the National Enquirer and McDougal and that McDougal’s claim of an affair with Trump was “utterly false.”
Hicks’s inclusion of a specific denial about the affair came at Trump’s request, she said, and she was told that “the evidence of an affair was false.”
Hicks paints Cohen in an unflattering light
Hicks told the court that Trump told her about a conversation he had with Cohen after the New York Times reported that Cohen claimed he paid Daniels without Trump’s knowledge.
Trump appeared to claim that Cohen told him the same.
But Hicks, asked if that seemed in line with the Cohen she knew, questioned Trump’s account.
“I didn’t know Michael was an especially charitable or altruistic person; he’s the kind of person who seeks credit,” Hicks said.
She also attested to the fact that Cohen was not a campaign employee and acted independently, sometimes in ways she found problematic.
“He liked to call himself ‘fixer’ or ‘Mr. Fix it,’ but that was only because he broke it in the first place,” Hicks said.
Merchan corrected Trump’s statement that he cannot testify
On Thursday, while speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, Trump said the gag order, intended to prevent him from disparaging witnesses in the press, will also prevent him from giving testimony. But that’s not true, Merchan said Friday.
“As the name of the order indicates,” it only applies to statements outside of court, Merchan said, adding that Trump has the “absolute right” to testify.
Trump was fined $9,000 this week for violating the gag order, with Merchan warning that continuing to do so could force the judge to jail him.
Trump, in fundraising messages, has used the order to fuel his campaign and warned he could be arrested for telling his supporters he is being silenced.
However, Merchan hesitated when the prosecution asked about questioning Trump if he testified about his gag order violations.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
