Former President Trump’s trial ended the week in dramatic fashion, with former aide Hope Hicks taking the stand.
Hicks, who served as press secretary in the turbulent early days of Trump’s first campaign for president, became his White House communications director.
It appears the two have been estranged since it emerged — as part of the January 6, 2021, investigation by a House select committee — that Hicks was critical of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
His testimony Friday in New York, where Trump is the first former president to face a criminal trial, was closely watched by jurors.
Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The charges relate to a hush-hush $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the final stages of the 2016 campaign.
The money was paid to Daniels to prevent her from publicly airing the allegation that she had sex with Trump about a decade earlier.
The former president’s then-lawyer and intermediary, Michael Cohen, made the payment, but it was later reimbursed through Trump’s businesses.
Prosecutors say the reimbursements were falsely listed as legal expenses to disguise their true purpose and hide their motivation: to protect Trump’s White House hopes.
Trump denies having sex with Daniels and also denies doing anything illegal.
Here are the key takeaways from Friday’s proceedings
Hicks relives ‘Access Hollywood’ chaos
The shadow of what is known as the “Access Hollywood” tape, in which Trump was heard boasting about being able to grab women by the genitals, hangs over the trial.
The tape surfaced about a month before Election Day in a blockbuster story from The Washington Post. At the time, it was expected that the crudeness of Trump’s remarks would diminish his chances of defeating Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
Clearly, these predictions were wrong. But prosecutors here argue that the tape was so damaging to Trump that he could not tolerate the risk of shocking new revelations, especially from an adult film actress.
In his testimony, Hicks said he received a pre-publication email from the reporter who broke the “Access Hollywood” story, David Fahrenthold. The email included a transcript of what Trump could be heard saying to TV host Billy Bush, but not the tape itself.
Hicks almost immediately emailed senior Trump campaign colleagues, noting that his instinct was “Deny, deny, deny.”
Hicks, having not heard the tape, was unsure whether the transcript was genuine.
She went on to tell the court about Trump’s claim that the words didn’t sound like something he would say, but also that they weren’t that unusual by the standards of two men talking lasciviously about women.
Media coverage once the story broke told a different story, with Hicks recalling how “it was all Trump all the time for the next 36 hours.”
The tape is not the main point of this case. But Hicks’ testimony on the matter was compelling because of his vivid description of the human drama and the enormous political stakes involved.
Hicks gives his former boss some hope
Hicks acknowledged early on that she was “very nervous” to testify and, according to reporters in the courtroom, seemed uncomfortable at times.
She was forced to testify in the case under subpoena.
Despite apparently no longer being in contact with Trump, part of his testimony was useful to his former boss.
This time, the topic was a Wall Street Journal report, just days before the election, that delved into payments made to Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who says she also had an affair with Trump. (Trump denies this.)
Hicks, when questioned by prosecutors, said Trump was concerned about how the story “would be viewed by his wife,” Melania.
Later, when the defense questioned Hicks, she expanded on the topic, saying Trump “really, really respects” what Melania has to say; “I think he was just worried about what her perception of it would be.”
This is a very significant issue in the case.
The crime Trump is accused of is generally a misdemeanor, but it can be a felony, as alleged here, if it is committed in furtherance of another crime.
Prosecutors say the payment to Daniels was made for campaign purposes, amounting to election interference.
But if jurors are persuaded that the money was actually paid to spare Trump personal embarrassment, the election interference element of the case falls apart.
Twelve years ago, former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards got off scot-free after a jury essentially accepted his argument that payments made to a woman with whom he had an affair – and who fathered a child – were made for personal and non-electoral reasons. reasons.
Donald Trump, worthy of the Pulitzer Prize
One of Friday’s lighter moments came when Hicks recalled conversations he overheard Trump having with former magazine mogul David Pecker.
Pecker, who previously testified in this case, is the former CEO of American Media Inc., parent company of the tabloid National Enquirer, among other titles.
Pecker noted in his testimony that during the 2016 campaign the National Enquirer didn’t just publish stories favorable to Trump. He also published negative articles about his Republican rivals, including Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Ben Carson.
According to Hicks, Trump would call to congratulate Pecker on some of these stories, which were actually hit pieces.
Hicks said Trump was “congratulating him on excellent reporting” and would proclaim some of the stories “Pulitzer-worthy.”
Unfortunately for Trump and Pecker, the chances of Pulitzers being awarded for stories like the fanciful suggestion that Cruz’s father was somehow linked to the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy were always slim.
Trump pays for gag order violations
It wasn’t all Hicks on Friday.
The process began, as has happened on several other days, on the subject of the gag order imposed on Trump by Judge Juan Merchan, who presides over the case.
A court official confirmed to the media that Trump paid a $9,000 fine levied by Merchan, representing nine violations of $1,000 each. At the time he imposed the fine, Merchan expressed regret that he could not order a more significant financial sanction on Trump, who claims to be a billionaire.
Merchan on Friday also corrected a statement Trump made to the assembled media the day before, suggesting that the gag order prevented him from testifying.
The order has no bearing on whether Trump testifies or not, which is a decision in the hands of the former president.
Trial becomes the hottest media ticket in town
Public interest in the case is intense. Among the media, the fascination can be even greater.
On Friday, two prominent cable news anchors, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell and CNN’s Anderson Cooper, were in court.
The New York Times reported that O’Donnell, a vigorous Trump critic, was also present on Thursday and that Trump “made a face at him later in the day.”
On Friday, the Times added, Trump said “a quick ‘hello’” to Cooper in the morning.
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