Hope Hicks' testimony was a nightmare for Trump [View all]
It’s a cliché to say that electricity surged through a courtroom — but it did when Hope Hicks took the stand Friday morning for her testimony in the election interference trial of former President Donald Trump.
In an overflow room of the courthouse where members of the public watch the proceedings, audible gasps were reported. Even Hicks, who was the Trump campaign’s press secretary for the 2016 presidential election at issue in the case, seemed to feel the significance of the moment. Experienced, battle-hardened communications veteran that she is, she began her testimony by saying she was nervous. Who from Trump world wouldn’t be when appearing for the prosecution to testify against “the boss” who has a criminal conviction at stake.
Other than Trump and those in his immediate circle, I probably have spent as much time as anyone here in the courtroom discussing the events at issue in the trial with Hicks. That is because as special counsel for the first Trump impeachment, I took her testimony on the alleged 2016 election influence scheme. As it became devastatingly clear in court Friday, she is a Trump loyalist who nevertheless implicated him directly in the alleged wrongdoing in an utterly believable way.
That is why Hicks is so important to prosecutors as they seek to prove their case, and during her testimony, they rapidly got to the heart of the matter. Hicks provided a gripping account of the impact of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape on Trump’s campaign, which in turn sets up the so-called hush money payments to Stormy Daniels – who has alleged she had an affair with the former president – that is at the center of the charges in this case.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/03/opinions/hope-hicks-trump-hush-money-trial-eisen/index.html
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