Highlights from Hope Hicks’ testimony on Day 11 of the Donald Trump hush money trial

TFD – Dive into the ongoing Trump trial saga, where Merchan’s ruling on further gag order breaches regarding the case is awaited, alongside insights into Hope Hicks’ testimony and the Manhattan DA’s pursuit of justice.

Hope Hicks, the former press secretary for Donald Trump’s campaign and director of communications for the White House, took the stand on Friday. She spoke about the fallout from the “Access Hollywood” tape and the White House’s response to reports regarding hush money payments, all while sitting just feet away from her former boss.

Hicks answered questions from prosecutors for over two hours, avoiding eye contact with Trump most of the time because she was clearly anxious. Hicks started crying and seemed overwhelmed when the prosecutors ended their questions and Trump’s lawyer approached the stand. She concluded her evidence after a short intermission.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office claims that Hicks’ testimony enabled prosecutors to present jurors with the transcript of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, which rocked Trump’s campaign and increased the president’s anxiety about Stormy Daniels’ silence in the final days of the November 2016 election.

When the court returns on Monday, a new witness will take the stand; prosecutors still have Daniels, Michael Cohen, Trump Organization staffers, and White House aides on their list of potential witnesses.

The following conclusions can be drawn from day 11 of the Trump hush money trial:

Hicks rejects Daniels’ claims and characterizes the audio as a “crisis.”

After sitting in the witness box, Hicks looked visibly uncomfortable and quickly acknowledged as much when she began answering questions.

She adjusted herself and the microphone in front of her and admitted, “I’m really nervous.”

Trump watched the proceedings unfold on the television above him, usually wearing a frown, occasionally glancing at Hicks and exchanging notes with his lawyers. Hicks, on the other hand, seldom glanced at the defendant’s table—rather, she almost exclusively focused on the jury and associate district attorney Matthew Colangelo.

Hicks’ testimony centered largely on her work with the Trump campaign in October 2016, shortly before the election. Prosecutors asked what happened when the “Access Hollywood” tape came out.

“The tape caused harm.” This was a crisis, according to Hicks.

When the Wall Street Journal revealed Karen McDougal’s $150,000 agreement with American Media, Inc. to keep quiet about an alleged affair, the fallout from the tape then influenced the campaign’s response.

Hicks, a spokesman for Trump’s campaign at the time, refuted claims in the paper that Trump had an affair with any lady, which also included Daniels.

Hicks refuted the accusations made against Daniels, saying, “What I told the Wall Street Journal is what was told to me.”

Trump’s lawyer Emil Bove revealed during Hicks’ cross-examination that the president was also worried about his wife’s opinion. Hicks testified that on the day the story was published, Trump requested that the newspapers not be brought to his home.

Judges hear Trump’s response to the “Access Hollywood” video.

The whole transcript of the “Access Hollywood” tape, which included Trump’s now-famous “grab ’em by the p*ssy” remark and other foul language the campaign attempted to brush off as “locker room talk,” was shown to the jurors on Friday.

(They did not, however, hear Trump on the recording because the court decided the footage would bias the jury.)

Hicks led the jury into the turmoil that surrounded Trump’s campaign as it frantically responded to a report published in the Washington Post on October 7, 2016. When the reporter emailed Hicks that day asking for a response for his piece, that’s when Hicks found out about the tape.

Hicks said in court, “I was concerned,” about her thoughts. “I had reservations about the email’s contents. I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough time to react. We had a transcript without a tape, which worried me. Numerous factors were in play.

Hicks emailed, saying, “FLAGGING,” adding two notes: “1) Need to hear the tape, to be sure. 2) Consistently deny.

Hicks laughed as he stated, “Strategy number two was going to be a little more difficult,” on the stand.

When the story initially emerged, Hicks remembered alerting Trump about the tape at Trump Tower along with a number of other senior staff members, including Steve Bannon, Conway, Jared Kushner, and Jason Miller.

“He said that didn’t sound like something he would say,” Hicks testified, noting Trump asked to see the actual tape. Once Trump saw the tape, however, he was upset.

Hicks claimed that while she wasn’t worried “in that moment” about how this might affect female voters, she did think about it perhaps the next day or a few hours later.

Prosecutors are getting closer to the crime

However, by itself, those payments are not unlawful. Trump is accused of hiding the fact that Cohen was paid $130,000 to keep Daniels silent prior to the 2016 election, and this has led to 34 counts of fabricating business records against him.

Prosecutors took a step toward the payback and the alleged accusations after hearing Hicks’ testimony.

Hicks testified that Trump told her about the hush money payment after Cohen gave a statement to The New York Times, saying that Cohen paid the money to Daniels of his own volition.

Sarcastically, Colangelo questioned Hicks about if Cohen’s persona appeared to be paying Daniels for Trump “out of the kindness of his heart.”

Hicks answered, “I would say that would be out of character for Michael.” “I had no idea Michael was such a selfless or charitable person.”

Hicks stated that she was not directly aware of the hush money payments or repayments. However, she set the stage for later witnesses, who will start telling jurors that particular portion of the story.

There are still attacks on “Mr. Fix it,” Michael A. Cohen

Friday marked the continuation of the trial-long attack on Cohen’s credibility by Trump’s legal team, which has targeted everything from his cell phone handling habits to his propensity to go “rogue” during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump’s lawyers pressed Hicks to verify during the cross-examination that Cohen did not have access to campaign strategy and did not take any actions without campaign authorization.

“He liked to call himself a fixer, or ‘Mr. Fix it’ – and it was only because he first broke it that he was able to then fix it,” Hicks said, laughing.

Trump’s team also used its cross-examination of the digital forensics expert, Douglas Daus, who examined Cohen’s cell phones to cast doubt on the credibility of Trump’s former lawyer.

The Manhattan district attorney’s employee who was in charge of the phones during the four days that passed between when they were acquired and when they were delivered to Daus’ department was the target of a subpoena attempt by Trump’s team prior to the start of the trial.

Trump’s lawyers indicated in the letter they wanted to “challenge the integrity of evidence DANY (District Attorney of New York) will seek to offer from Cohen’s phones, for use in cross-examination of Cohen” and “regarding the bias and hostility toward President Trump to attack the lack of integrity of DANY’s investigation.”

Daus, who introduced a key September 2016 recording of Trump and Cohen that was on Cohen’s phone, agreed that he did not know what Cohen had done with his phone when it had been synced with a laptop in 2017 and turned on and used in 2020.

In court, prosecutors attempted to refute this defense strategy.

Prosecutor Chris Conroy questioned, “Did you see any evidence of tampering or manipulation on any of the data that you pulled related to the recording that’s in evidence?

In court, Daus said, “I did not.”

The judge informs Trump that he can still testify despite the gag order.

Trump has not stopped criticizing Judge Juan Merchan’s gag order, which prevents the defendant from disclosing information about possible witnesses, the majority of those working in or connected to the court system, or the New York district attorney’s office. (The Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the judge are not covered.)

Trump has repeatedly made the gag order sound far broader than it is, CNN fact checker Daniel Dale wrote. For instance, Trump claimed at a Wednesday campaign rally in Michigan that “I’m not even supposed to be, I would say, talking to you, because he gagged me” – though the gag order actually says nothing to prevent him from making a campaign speech.

He’s also said previously it would prevent him from taking the stand. But while Trump acknowledged to reporters Friday morning that the gag order doesn’t impact his ability to testify if he chose to do so, the judge made clear there was no doubt.

In court on Friday, Merchan declared, “The order restricting extrajudicial statements does not prevent you from testifying in any way.” “It doesn’t stop you from speaking up, nor does it restrict or lessen what you have to say.”

Using two cashier’s checks, Trump has paid the $9,000 fee he was fined for violating the gag order in the past.

On the further claimed breaches of the gag order made against Trump, Merchan declined to rule.