NEW YORK (AP) – Prosecutors in donald trumpin silent money trial are falling deeper into his orbit following an insider report about the former president’s reaction to a politically damaging recording that emerged in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign.
I hope Hicksa former White House official and for years a top aide, is by far the closest Trump associate to take the witness stand in the Manhattan trial.
His testimony on Friday was designed to give jurors an insider’s view of a chaotic and crucial period of the campaign, when a 2005 recording showing Trump talking about grabbing women without their permission was made public and when he and his allies tried to stop other potentially embarrassing stories from being released. That effort, prosecutors say, included hush payments to a porn star and a Playboy model who said they had sexual encounters with Trump before he entered politics.
“I had the good sense to believe that this was going to be a huge story and that it would dominate the news cycle for the next few days,” Hicks said of the “Access Hollywood” footage, first revealed in October 2016 in Washington. Post story. “This was a harmful development.”
The trial enters its third week of testimony on Monday, with prosecutors moving toward their star witness, michael cohenTrump’s former lawyer and personal fixer who pleaded guilty to federal charges related to hush money payments. Cohen is expected to be subjected to scathing cross-examination by defense lawyers seeking to undermine his credibility with jurors.
Trump faces 34 criminal charges of falsifying business records in connection with payments made to suppress potentially embarrassing stories. Prosecutors say Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, reimbursed Cohen for payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and gave Cohen bonuses and extra payments. Prosecutors allege these transactions were falsely recorded in the company’s records as legal expenses.
Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied sexual encounters with any of the women, as well as any wrongdoing.
So far, jurors have heard from witnesses, including one tabloid editor and friend of Trump who bought the rights to various sordid stories about Trump to prevent them from being revealed and a Los Angeles Lawyer who negotiated secret deals on behalf of Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Trump’s lawyers sought to undermine the prosecution’s theory of the case and the credibility of some witnesses. They raised questions during interrogations about whether Trump was possibly the target of extortion, forced to organize payments to suppress damaging stories and spare his family embarrassment and pain. Prosecutors say the payments were intended to preserve his political viability while he sought the presidency.
The case is one of four lawsuits against Trump and possibly the only one that will come to trial before the November elections. Other criminal charges accuse him of Conspiring to Subvert the 2020 Presidential Election after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden and illegally accumulate confidential documents after he left the White House.
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Tucker reported from Washington.
