Hope Hicks, a top aide to former President Donald Trump during his political rise, is testifying in her former boss’ hush money trial about key players in 2016 payoffs to women and the fallout from the “Access Hollywood” tape before the election.
Ms. Hicks admitted she was “really nervous” as she took the witness stand Friday. She testified about an urgent request from a Washington Post reporter in October 2016 seeking comment about the “Access Hollywood” audio, in which Mr. Trump speaks crudely about his stardom and touching women.
She said the message, received about a month before the election, was worrisome.
“There was a lot at play,” she testified.
Prosecutors say that tape, which launched a political firestorm, was a serious driver in making a hush payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, who alleged she had a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump in 2006. They say efforts to document and conceal the payments led to crimes.
Mr. Trump denies having sex with Ms. Daniels and has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Ms. Hicks said she forwarded the email about the tape to other aides, including Jason Miller, David Bossie, Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon. She testified that Mr. Trump ultimately led the campaign’s media strategy.
“I would say that Mr. Trump was responsible,” she said. “He knew what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it, and we were all just following his lead.”
On Mr. Trump’s attitude about the crude nature of the “Access Hollywood” tape, she said: “I think he felt like it was pretty standard stuff for two guys chatting with each other.”
She also testified she was around for calls between Mr. Trump and David Pecker, the former leader of the National Enquirer.
Ms. Hicks remembered a call in which Mr. Trump praised a story about Ben Carson, a 2016 GOP rival, but she said she doesn’t remember being at a key Trump Tower meeting in August 2015 between Mr. Trump and Mr. Pecker.
“I don’t have a recollection of that, but it’s certainly possible,” she said.
Mr. Pecker had testified that Ms. Hicks was in and out of that meeting in which he agreed with Mr. Trump and lawyer Michael Cohen to run positive stories about Mr. Trump and negative ones about opponents.
Ms. Hicks also discussed her transition from working for the Trump Organization to the 2016 campaign, saying she thought Mr. Trump “might be joking” when he said she could be his top press aide.
“I had no experience and worked at the company, not the campaign, so I didn’t take it very seriously,” she said. “Eventually I started spending so much time on the campaign that I became a member of the campaign and I was the press secretary.”
Ms. Hicks said she hasn’t spoken to Mr. Trump since mid-2022. Yet she spoke favorably of her former boss, calling him a good multitasker and hard worker.
• This story is based in part on wire service reports.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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