Prosecutors move deeper into Trump’s orbit as testimony in hush money trial enters a third week
NEW YORK — Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s hush money trial are finding themselves deeper in his orbit following an inside-the-room report on the former president’s response to a politically damaging recording that surfaced in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign.
Hope Hicks, a former White House official and longtime top aide, is by far the closest Trump aide to the witness stand in the Manhattan trial.
Her testimony Friday was intended to give jurors a glimpse into a chaotic and pivotal stretch in the campaign, when a 2005 recording of Trump talking about grabbing women without their consent was made public and as he and his allies tried to secure its release from others. possibly embarrassing stories. That effort, according to prosecutors, included hush money payments to a porn actor and a Playboy model, both of whom have said they had sexual encounters with Trump before he entered politics.
“I had a good sense of believing that this was going to be a big story and that it was going to dominate the news cycle for the next few days,” Hicks said of the “Access Hollywood” recording, which was first revealed in a Washington Post of October 2016. Post story. “This was a damaging development.”
The trial enters its third week of testimony on Monday, with prosecutors focusing on their key witness, Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer who pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the hush money payments. Cohen is expected to face a nail-biting cross-examination from lawyers seeking to undermine his credibility with jurors.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying company records in connection with payments made to suppress potentially embarrassing stories. Prosecutors say Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, reimbursed Cohen for payments to porn actor Stormy Daniels and gave Cohen bonuses and additional payments. Prosecutors allege that these transactions were incorrectly recorded in company records as legal fees.
Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied sexual encounters with any of the women, as well as any wrongdoing.
So far, jurors have heard from witnesses including a tabloid publisher and friend of Trump’s who bought the rights to several sordid stories about Trump to prevent them from coming out, and a Los Angeles attorney representing both Daniels as the Playboy model negotiated hush money deals. Karen McDougal.
Trump’s lawyers have tried to undermine the prosecution’s theory of the case and the credibility of some witnesses. They have raised questions during cross-examination about whether Trump may have been the target of extortion, forced to arrange payoffs to suppress damaging stories and spare his family shame and pain. Prosecutors allege the payments were intended to maintain his political viability as he sought to become president.
The case is one of four prosecutions against Trump and possibly the only one that will go to trial before the November election. Other felony charges accuse him of conspiring to undermine the 2020 presidential election after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden and of illegally hoarding classified documents after leaving the White House.
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Tucker reported from Washington.