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Donald Trump’s hush money criminal process enters its 12th day on Monday morning, following testimony from a tearful senior aide, Hope Hicksat the end of last week.
Hicks told jurors Friday that Trump had complete control over his 2016 presidential campaign — including a media strategy that prosecutors say included illegal business records of hush money payments.
Hicks’ testimony could be a coup for prosecutors.
They must establish that Trump conspired with aides — then-attorney Michael Cohen and tabloid David Packer — to bury negative stories that could derail his bid for the presidency, including stories of extramarital affairs with elderly actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougall.
Cohen allegedly paid Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence; Prosecutors say Trump misrepresented the payments to him as legal services, a felony of falsifying business records.
By putting Trump at the center of his media strategy, Hicks’ testimony could support prosecutors’ argument that he was well aware of this catch-and-kill scheme and the financial machinations used to allegedly cover up those payments.
Hicks’ testimony also provided a motive for this alleged scheme. When the Trump campaign learned that the Washington Post would publish a tape of Trump bragging about groping women and grabbing their “pussy,” Hicks said staffers thought “it was a crisis.”
As Trump sought to downplay the remarks as “locker room talk,” it was all the more imperative that any alleged rudeness remain about words — not actions — for the sake of his campaign. But soon after, allegations of physical inappropriate behavior surfaced, prompting Cohen to hide Daniels’ account, prosecutors say.
Hicks also recalled a conversation with Trump following a February 2018 New York Times op-ed article in which Michael Cohen said he paid Daniels before the election but insisted it was not a campaign contribution. The Times article followed the Wall Street Journal’s publication article which disclosed Cohen’s payment to Daniels.
“He wanted to know how it played out and just my thoughts and opinion on that story versus the story — a different kind of story before the campaign Michael had not made that payment,” Hicks recalled Trump saying in response to prosecutor Matthew Colangelo’s question.
“And I think Mr. Trump’s point was [that] it was better to deal with it now and that it would have been bad for this story to come out before the election.
Hicks’ recollection of Trump’s weather comment was her final statement on direct testimony.
She began to cry as soon as the cross-examination began. Hicks said “um yes please” if he needed a break. She walked out of Judge Juan Murchan’s courtroom with a crumpled piece of tissue in her hand.
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