UPDATED 3:24 P.M.
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Hope Hicks, a former top aide to Donald Trump, testified on Friday that he told her in the final days of the 2016 presidential election to deny that he had a sexual relationship with porn star Stormy Daniels.
Hicks’ testimony gave jurors an inside look at the campaign’s damage-control efforts when Trump faced multiple accusations of unflattering sexual behavior in the waning weeks of his successful White House campaign.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment made at that time to Daniels, who was threatening to go public with her story of their 2006 sexual encounter.
Hicks testified that she told Trump four days before the Nov. 8, 2016, election that the Wall Street Journal would publish details of Daniels’ story.
“He wanted to make sure that there was a denial of any kind of relationship,” said Hicks, who served as campaign press secretary.
She said Trump did not want his wife Melania to see the story, which also included allegations that he had an affair with former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Trump has denied having sex with either woman.
“He was concerned about how it would be viewed by his wife, and he wanted me to make sure the newspapers weren’t delivered to the residence that morning,” Hicks said.
Prosecutors in the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president argue that the payment to Daniels corrupted the election by suppressing news that could have influenced voters as they decided whether to back the Republican Trump or Hillary Clinton, then his Democratic rival.
Prosecutors say Trump falsified records to cover up election-law and tax-law violations, which elevates the 34 counts he faces from a misdemeanor to a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.
Hicks’ testimony could help Trump’s lawyers make their case that he paid off Daniels to keep his wife, not voters, from hearing the adult film star’s allegations.
She said Trump told her that his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid off Daniels to “protect him from a false allegation” out of the “kindness of his own heart.”
Hicks said she thought that would have been out of character for Cohen. “I didn’t know Michael to be an especially charitable person or selfless person,” she said.
Hicks teared up briefly during her testimony.
Trump, the Republican candidate for president again this year, sat expressionless at the defendants’ table during the testimony by Hicks, the first person who worked for Trump’s campaign to appear as a witness in the 11-day-old trial.
Hicks said the campaign was rattled by the public release of an audio recording from the “Access Hollywood” TV show in which Trump bragged about grabbing women’s genitals.
She said Trump was upset, but also played down the comments.
“Mr. Trump felt like this wasn’t good, but it was also just like two guys talking, locker-room talk,” she testified.
The 12 jurors and six alternates have yet to hear from the main players in the case, including Daniels and Cohen.
Earlier in the day, the judge overseeing the trial told Trump that a gag order that bars him from commenting about witnesses and jurors would not prevent him from testifying, as Trump had told reporters on Thursday.
“I want to stress to Mr. Trump: you have an absolute right to testify at trial,” Justice Juan Merchan said.
Trump said his legal team would try to overturn the gag order, which bars him from making public comments about jurors, witnesses, and families of the judge and prosecutors if those statements are meant to interfere with the case.
Merchan fined Trump $9,000 on Tuesday for violating the order and signaled on Thursday he may impose more fines for what prosecutors say are further violations. Merchan has said Trump could be jailed if he does not change his ways.
Trump says the case is an attempt by Democrats to undercut his chances of defeating Democratic President Joe Biden in the coming Nov. 5 presidential election.
The case features sordid allegations of adultery and secret payoffs, but it is widely seen as less consequential than the other three criminal prosecutions Trump faces and perhaps the only one to be tried before the November election.
The others charge him with trying to overturn his 2020 presidential defeat and mishandling classified documents after leaving office. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all of those also.
Still, a guilty verdict could hurt Trump’s presidential bid, Reuters/Ipsos polling has found.
(Reporting by Jack Queen and Brendan Pierson in New York and Andy Sullivan in Washington; Editing by Howard Goller)
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UPDATED 12:41 P.M.
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Hope Hicks, a former top aide to Donald Trump, testified on Friday that staffers on his 2016 presidential campaign were alarmed when they learned that a tape in which he made lewd comments about women was about to be made public.
Hicks testified there was a clear consensus the tape of Trump’s comments on the “Access Hollywood” TV show was damaging and that its release would be a crisis.
“Everyone was just sort of absorbing the shock of it,” she said. She said Trump was upset, but also played down the comments. “Mr. Trump felt like this wasn’t good, but it was also just like two guys talking, locker-room talk,” she testified.
Hicks’ testimony gave jurors an inside view of damage-control efforts in the final days of the 2016 election, when Trump weathered widespread criticism from fellow Republicans as he faced multiple accusations of unflattering sexual behavior.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, who was threatening to go public at that time with her story of their 2006 sexual encounter, an alleged liaison that he denies.
Trump sat expressionless at the defendants’ table during her testimony.
Hicks is the first person who worked directly for Trump to testify in the 11-day-old trial.
Hicks began working for Trump, then a New York businessman, starting in 2014 and served as spokesperson during his first campaign for president and later as communications director in the White House.
She told jurors she was surprised by his entry into politics. “One day he said, ‘We’re going to Iowa,’ and I didn’t really know why,” she testified.
She said she thought Trump was joking when he asked her to be the campaign’s press secretary. “I wasn’t sure if I should take it seriously,” she said.
Former National Enquirer tabloid publisher David Pecker testified at the trial that Hicks was in a 2015 meeting where Pecker promised to serve as “eyes and ears” for the Trump campaign and help suppress unflattering news stories that could have threatened his presidential prospects.
Hicks testified that she heard Trump praise Pecker multiple times for the National Enquirer’s negative reporting on his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.
The 12 jurors and six alternates have yet to hear from the main players in the case, including Daniels and Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, who arranged the payment.
Along with Pecker, they have heard from Daniels’ former lawyer Keith Davidson, who testified he arranged the payment with Cohen. Under questioning from Trump’s defense team, he acknowledged pursuing similar cash-for-dirt deals with other high-profile people.
The defense argues the hush money payment was made to spare Trump’s family embarrassment, not to protect his presidential campaign.
Trump says the case is an attempt by Democrats to undercut his chances of defeating Democratic President Joe Biden in the coming Nov. 5 presidential election.
The case features sordid allegations of adultery and secret payoffs, but it is widely seen as less consequential than the other three criminal prosecutions Trump faces. The others charge him with trying to overturn his 2020 presidential defeat and mishandling classified documents after leaving office. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all of those also.
Still, a guilty verdict could hurt Trump’s presidential bid, Reuters/Ipsos polling has found.
(Reporting by Jack Queen and Brendan Pierson in New York and Andy Sullivan in Washington; Editing by Howard Goller)
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NEW YORK (Reuters) -The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial said on Friday that a gag order preventing him from commenting about witnesses and jurors does not bar him from testifying in court on his own behalf.
“I want to stress to Mr. Trump: you have an absolute right to testify at trial,” Justice Juan Merchan said to start the 11th day in Trump’s hush money trial.
Trump asserted after Thursday’s session that the gag order would prevent him from testifying. He said on Friday that was not actually the case. “It won’t stop me from testifying,” he told reporters before entering the courtroom.
Trump said his legal team would try to overturn the gag order, which bars him from making public comments about jurors, witnesses, and families of the judge and prosecutors if those statements are meant to interfere with the case.
Merchan fined Trump $9,000 on Tuesday for violating the order and signaled on Thursday he may impose more fines for what prosecutors say are further violations. Merchan has said Trump could be potentially jailed if he does not change his ways.
The judge declined a request on Thursday by Trump’s legal team to vet commentary about the trial before Trump posts it online.
“When in doubt, steer clear,” Merchan said, prompting Trump to shake his head and sigh.
Witnesses on Friday were expected to offer more details of a hush money payment to a porn star that prevented voters in the 2016 election from learning about a sexual encounter she alleged to have had with the then-Republican presidential candidate.
The 12 jurors and six alternates hearing the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president have yet to hear from the main players in the case.
These include Stormy Daniels, the porn star who got $130,000 to keep quiet about the alleged sexual liaison, and Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who arranged the payment in the weeks before Trump’s 2016 victory.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges of falsifying business records to cover up the payment to Daniels and denies having had a sexual encounter with her. It was unclear whether Daniels or Cohen would take the witness stand on Friday.
Prosecutors are not saying who will testify in advance out of concern the witnesses will be targeted by Trump, who owns his own social media network and speaks regularly to enthusiastic crowds as he mounts a 2024 White House comeback bid.
Jurors so far have heard from lawyer Keith Davidson, who testified that he arranged the payment with Cohen. Under questioning from Trump’s defense team, he acknowledged pursuing similar cash-for-dirt deals with other high-profile people.
The defense argues the hush money payment was made to spare Trump’s family embarrassment, not to protect his presidential campaign.
The jury has also heard former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testify that he agreed to keep an eye out for damaging stories on Trump’s behalf. The tabloid paid $150,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal for her story of an affair with Trump, but did not publish it, according to evidence presented at trial. Trump denies that affair as well.
Trump says the case is an attempt by Democrats to undercut his chances of defeating Democratic President Joe Biden in the coming Nov. 5 presidential election.
The case features sordid allegations of adultery and secret payoffs, but it is widely seen as less consequential than three other criminal prosecutions Trump faces. The others charge him with trying to overturn his 2020 presidential defeat and mishandling classified documents after leaving office. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all of those also.
Still, a guilty verdict could hurt Trump’s presidential bid, Reuters/Ipsos polling has found.
(Reporting by Jack Queen and Brendan Pierson in New York and Andy Sullivan in Washington; Editing by Howard Goller)
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