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Donald Trump is back at Manhattan Criminal Court for the latest instalment of his hush money trial on Friday, where testimony continues.
The court is now hearing from a major witness, former aide and press secretary to Mr Trump, Hope Hicks.
Ms Hicks was a crucial part of the 2016 Trump campaign and allegedly part of at least 10 telephone conversations with Mr Trump and former fixer and attorney Michael Cohen regarding the hush money payments and alleged reimbursements.
She took the stand at around 11.30am and began by saying with a laugh that she was “really nervous” before explaining how she came to work for the former president.
Earlier, Mr Trump’s attorneys cross-examined a forensic analyst from the Manhattan district attorney’s office who pulled thousands of files from Cohen’s phones, including the bombshell audio of a secretly recorded conversation from 2016 that was played yesterday and captured Cohen and the defendant discussing a payment to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Keith Davidson, the ex-lawyer for Stormy Daniels and Ms McDougal, wrapped up his testimony yesterday.
The Independent’s Alex Woodward is covering the trial at Manhattan Criminal Court.
Court will resume at 2.15pm.
As court is ending early today at 3.45pm, Ms Hicks will almost certainly be back on the stand on Monday.
Hicks had also learned that the story would mention Stormy Daniels, and Trump “wanted to know the context and he wanted to make sure there was a denial of any kind of relationship”.
She said that the reporting “wasn’t necessarily about accusations of, you know, certain behaviour”.
Judge Merchan excuses the jury for lunch.
Hicks emailed Cohen a draft, and he responded with:
Instead, say: “These accusations are completely untrue and just the latest despicable attempt by the liberal media and the Clinton machine to distract the public from the FBI’s ongoing criminal investigation into Secretary Clinton and her closest associates.”
Hicks said they ended up changing the statement to “just a denial” and “that we didn’t know anything about this deal.”
She also called Pecker, and “asked what was going on, why was I receiving this email, and he explained that Karen McDougal was paid for magazine covers and fitness columns and it was all very legitimate and that was what the contract was for”.
First, she spoke with Michael Cohen.
“There was a reason I called David next. I think Michael… he didn’t know what I was talking about.”
She began drafting a response, and she “sent it to Michael first to get his input while Mr Trump was still on stage” then shared it with him after the rally.
Ms Hicks received an email from Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Rothfeld just as the campaign was landing in Ohio for a rally.
In the email, “I think it outlined that there was a woman named Karen McDougal who had a story that was purchased by the National Enquirer but was never published. And he was asking me or the Trump campaign if we knew anything about that.”
Ms Hicks let Trump know about the email before he started speaking at the rally, fearing she wouldn’t have enough time to respond.
She looped in Jared Kushner.
She had hoped he could lean on his relationship with Rupert Murdoch, “seeing if we could buy a little extra time to deal with this.”
“I think he said he wasn’t going to be able to reach Rupert and should just work on responding and dealing with it.”
“Have you ever heard of someone named Karen McDougal?” she is asked by Colangelo.
“I received an inquiry from a reporter at The Wall Street Journal asking questions about her and The National Enquirer,” Ms Hicks replies.
“Have you ever heard of someone named Stormy Daniels?”
“A year prior, I remember 2015, Mr Trump, security guys on the plane were telling a story about a celebrity golf tournament … and her name came up. She was there with one of the other participants that Mr Trump played with that day.”
The jury is now seeing the “foul-mouthed Sen John McCain”, “nobody has more respect for women than me,” “media rigging election” and “phoney stories” tweets. Hicks is also being asked to read them aloud.
We’re seeing a clip from Trump’s October 15 2016 rally in North Carolina, where he said allegations from other women are “horrible lies, all fabrications, and we can’t let them change the most important election of our lives”.
Did you read what Trump posted on Twitter at the time?
Who was authorized to post from the account
“One other staff member who could post things that Mr Trump approved … His name is Dan Scavino.”
Only with Mr Trump’s approval?
So what appeared on Twitter was approved by Trump?
Objection.
Overruled.
Ms Hicks spoke to Michael Cohen a few days later on “Saturday October 8”.
“I was calling him to ask him to chase down a rumour … that there may be another tape that would be problematic for the campaign.”
“I didn’t want anyone to be blindsided.”
“I asked him to call this friend of his and ask about the existence of the tape and let me know if there was a tape and when we can expect it to be published.”
That Saturday was the debate in St Louis, with moderators Martha Raddatz and Anderson Cooper — who is watching the trial today in court.
The Trump defence team has objected to a line of questions about whether Ms Hicks recalled other officials reacting to the tape.
Attorney Emil Bove then asks for a sidebar.
Trump appeared to snap awake, grabbing Todd Blanche’s arm as he got up to walk over to the judge.
Now Trump is scribbling something down.
The objection is sustained by Judge Merchan.
Source: independent.co.uk
