NEW YORK –
Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign was gripped by concerns about the potential political damage of a tape that showed Trump bragging about sexually grabbing women without their permission, longtime Trump adviser Hope Hicks testified Friday in his secret money trial.
Hicks, a former White House official, was forced to testify by Manhattan prosecutors, who hope her comments will bolster their argument that the uproar over the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape prompted Trump’s then-lawyer to pay porn actor Stormy Daniels to bury a negative story that could jeopardize his 2016 presidential bid.
Hicks, once one of Trump’s closest confidants, provided a window into the chaotic aftermath of the tape’s release just days before a crucial debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton. It was recorded in 2005 but was not seen by the public until October 7, 2016, about a month before Election Day. Hicks described being stunned and huddled with other Trump advisers after learning of the tape’s existence from the Washington Post reporter who broke the story. Hicks referred the journalist’s request to campaign leaders with the recommendation to “deny, deny, deny,” he said.
“I had the good sense to believe that this was going to be a massive story and that it would dominate the news cycle for the next few days,” Hicks testified. “This was a disruptive development.”
He added: “This was just pushing us back in a way that was going to be difficult to overcome.”
Prosecutors called her to the witness stand to strengthen their case by alleging that Trump worked to prevent damaging stories about his personal life from becoming public as part of a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election. Manhattan District Attorney , Alvin Bragg, has sought to establish that link not only to secure a conviction but also to persuade the public of the importance of the case, which may be the only one of the four prosecutions against Trump to go to trial this year.
Hicks told jurors that Trump claimed he knew nothing about his then-attorney, Michael Cohen, paying $130,000 to Daniels to prevent her from going public with claims of a sexual encounter with Trump. But, Hicks said, Trump eventually came to believe that burying the Daniels story was prudent, saying he thought “it would have been bad for that story to come out before the election.”
At other points, Hicks’ testimony appeared to support the defense’s argument that the former president was trying to protect his reputation and his family – not his campaign – by shielding them from embarrassing stories about his personal life. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in the case, which he has criticized as an attempt to derail his campaign to retake the White House in November.
Under questioning by Trump’s lawyer, Hicks told jurors that he was concerned about the effect of the “Access Hollywood” tape on his family. And when the Wall Street Journal published a story revealing former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s affair allegations just before the election, Hicks said Trump was worried his wife would see the story and asked Hicks to come forward. ensure that the newspapers were not delivered to his residence that morning. .
In this March 29, 2018, file photo, Donald Trump poses with then-White House Communications Director Hope Hicks on his final day. (Andrew Harnik/AP Photo)
But when asked if Trump was also concerned about the story’s impact on the campaign, Hicks responded that everything they talked about during that time was seen through the lens of the campaign. Trump often asked him, “How are you doing?” as a way to evaluate how his appearances, speeches and policies were reaching voters, he said.
Hicks’ proximity to Trump over the years has made her a figure of interest to both Congress and criminal investigators, who have sought her testimony on multiple occasions on topics ranging from Russian election interference to defeat Trump’s election and the subsequent January 6, 2021, riot at the United States Capitol.
She seemed reluctant to be in the courtroom, taking a deep breath as she approached the microphone and admitting she was “really nervous.” She later began crying on the witness stand, forcing the court to take a brief break, when Trump’s attorney, Emil Bove, began asking her to reflect on her time at the Trump Organization before he brought her on board. to his 2016 campaign.
Referring to his former boss as “Mr. Trump” and later “President Trump” when speaking about his time in the White House, told the court that he last communicated with him in the summer or fall of 2022. Although he was no longer in Trump’s inner circle, Hicks spoke about the former president in glowing terms as the prosecutor began questioning her about his background.
She told how the political storm that ensued after the film’s release was so intense that it wiped a real storm out of the headlines. Before the tape was made public, the news was dominated by a Category 4 hurricane moving toward the East Coast.
“I don’t think anyone remembers” where the hurricane hit, Hicks told the jury.
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.
Prosecutors have spent the week using detailed testimony about meetings, email exchanges, business transactions and bank accounts to build on their case charging Trump with 34 counts of falsifying the Trump Organization’s internal business records. They are setting the stage for pivotal testimony from Cohen, who paid Daniels to keep him quiet before he went to prison over the hush money scheme.
Testimony will resume Monday. The trial could last another month or more, with key witnesses yet to be called, including Cohen and Daniels.
One of the most important pieces of evidence revealed to jurors this week was a recording of a meeting between Trump and Cohen before the 2016 election in which they discussed a plan to buy the rights to McDougal’s story from the National Enquirer so it would never reach . outside. The tabloid had previously bought McDougal’s story to bury it on Trump’s behalf.
At one point, Trump can be heard saying: “How much do we have to pay for this? One fifty?”
In a victory for Trump just as the court ended the week, Judge Juan M. Merchán denied a request by prosecutors to ask Trump, should he decide to testify, about his contempt of court for violations of the gag order in the case. Merchan said allowing it would be “so prejudicial that it would be very, very difficult for the jury to overlook that.”
Trump paid his $9,000 fine this week for violating a gag order that prohibits him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and certain other people related to the case.
Their attorney, Todd Blanche, told the judge Friday that they are appealing the ruling that Trump violated the gag order. Blanche said they particularly took issue with sanctions for what are known as reposts: cases in which Trump shared someone else’s post with his followers.
Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Colleen Long in Washington and Ruth Brown and Michelle Price in New York contributed to this report.