Hope Hicks to testify in Trump hush money trial: report
Hope Hicks, Donald Trump's 2016 campaign press secretary, will reportedly testify at the former president's hush money trial in New York.
Sources told NBC News that Hicks could testify about her knowledge surrounding payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to cover up Trump's alleged affair. Hicks has previously testified before a grand jury in March 2023.
"Now Hope Hicks, she per federal court records dating back to Michael Cohen when he pleaded guilty, he contended at the time that there was a phone call in which she latched not only Michael Cohen but with Donald Trump together," MSNBC's Vaughn Hilliard explained.
"And so there's questions about on October 8, 2016, the day that Stormy Daniels came forward to the National Enquirer and said that she was ready to share her story but could potentially all but be paid off, that there were conversations that Hope Hicks was allegedly a part of."
Hicks may have also been on a second call the same day that Cohen agreed to pay $130,000 to silence Daniels.
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Legal analyst Lisa Rubin noted that Hicks had broken with Trump to some degree after he left office.
"If you look at the transcript of Hope Hicks' transcribed interview with the January 6th committee, you see a person who at the end of her White House service did break somewhat with Donald Trump," Rubin recalled. "She didn't leave as acrimoniously as other people did."
"She didn't share his belief that the election had been stolen, and that at the time was headline-making news, that Hope Hicks had essentially said to him, Mr. President, you and I don't see this the same way," she added. "So it remains to be seen what Hope Hicks will be like in a courtroom if she testifies, what her demeanor is like with Donald Trump, the defendant, sitting right in front of her."