FORMER White House official Hope Hicks has taken the stand during Donald Trump’s hush money trial recounting the explicit tape that threatened his campaign and how the former president wanted to protect his wife from getting hurt.
Hick’s testimony marked the end of the second week of Trump’s trial.
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The former president is accused of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for covering up a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
The pair allegedly had an affair in 2006.
Hicks, a former White House official, testified on Friday, revealing the worry his campaign had about the infamous tape that was leaked by Access Hollywood, according to The Associated Press.
The tape was recorded in 2005 but was not publicly seen until almost 11 years later in 2016, a month before election day.
Trump can be heard on the recording – which was captured on the Access Hollywood set – bragging about grabbing women.
“When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,” Trump can be heard saying.
Hicks recalled the day she found out about the story from a Washington Post reporter and the frenzy that took place amongst Trump’s advisers.
“I had a good sense to believe this was going to be a massive story and that it was going to dominate the news cycle for the next several days,” Hicks testified, according to AP.
“This was a damaging development.”
She also said, “This was just pulling us backwards in a way that was going to be hard to overcome.”
The former president quickly shot down the scandal.
“He wanted to make sure that there was a denial of any kind of relationship,” Hicks said according to The Guardian.
Prosecutors summoned her to the witness stand to bolster their case that Trump engaged in illegal activities to influence the 2016 election by concealing information about his personal life.
Hicks, however, said she believed his actions were to protect his family.
“I don’t think he wanted anyone in his family to be hurt or embarrassed by anything that was happening on the campaign trail. He wanted them to be proud of him,” she said according to CNN.
When the Wall Street Journal published a story revealing ex-Playboy Model Karen McDougal’s affair allegations right before the election, Hicks claimed that Trump was worried about his wife seeing the paper.
Trump’s Hush Money Trial Recent Updates
During the second week of Trump’s trial, a recording between Donald Trump and lawyer Michael Cohen allegedly talking about the hush money payment was played to the jury.
On the tape, Trump tells his former lawyer Michael Cohen that the money should be paid in cash.
Prosecutors claim this relates to the $150,000 paid to Karen McDougal just weeks before the 2016 election to keep quiet about her affair with Trump.
The recording was secretly made on September 6, 2016, by Cohen as he was in discussions with the tabloid National Enquirer.
He wanted to buy the rights to the story from McDougal, who was Playboy Playmate of the Year in 1998.
In the recording, before speaking to Cohen, Trump can be heard talking to somebody called ‘Pam’.
“Maybe it would be better if you didn’t come. Because of this. It’s so false what they’re saying. Such b****,” Trump says, but it is unclear what he is referring to.
Cohen enters and says: “I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, David, you know, so that — I’m going to do that right away”.
Trump replies: “So, what do we got to pay for this? 150?”
“Yes. And it’s all the stuff,” Cohen says.
“He wanted me to make sure that the newspapers were [not] delivered to their residence that morning,” Hicks said, according to The Guardian.
Hicks had a hard time taking the stand on Friday, taking a deep breath when she spoke into the microphone and expressed with a quivering voice that she was “really nervous,” according to AP.
Later, she broke out in tears, forcing the court to take a short break.
Another piece of evidence presented this week was a recording between Trump and lawyer Michael Cohen allegedly talking about paying hush money to a former Playboy model.
Testimony will resume on Monday.
The trial could last another month or more as important witnesses including Cohen and Daniels have yet to take the stand.
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