Former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks shed tears during her testimony before a Manhattan jury today in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial. “I’m really nervous,” she told the packed courtroom.
The former president is facing charges regarding $130,000 paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, supposedly to keep rumors of an alleged affair she had with Trump out of the news in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election.
Hicks said that during that campaign, for which she was spokesman, then-candidate Trump also hoped that Rupert Murdoch would delay publishing a scandalous rumor about him in The Wall Street Journal, having to do with an alleged affair with Karen McDougal, the 1998 Playmate of the Year.
Additionally, Hicks maintained that the campaign went into damage-control mode when a Washington Post reporter contacted her for comment about an Access Hollywood tape that depicted Trump, as Celebrity Apprentice host, making crude remarks toward women. However, she said, at the time Trump brushed it off as “locker room banter,” though he later posted a message of apology on Twitter.
Trump has repeatedly denied claims of sexual infidelity with Daniels and McDougal. Hicks said that Trump was more concerned about his wife hearing the rumors than he was about campaign implications.
During her testimony, Hicks also praised Trump as a hard worker and responsible businessman.
On Fox News, The Five co-host Judge Jeanine Pirro lambasted the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, calling him ignorant of the law and accusing him of conducting a “kangaroo court.” This is a “legally insufficient case,” she said, noting that Hicks’ testimony “demolishes” the prosecution’s arguments. For her full commentary, click on the video below.
Despite a gag order, Trump posted the following on Truth Social today:
THIS ISN’T A TRIAL, IT’S A POLITICAL CAMPAIGN, A WITCH HUNT, JUST LIKE THE HIGHLY CONFLICTED AND BIASED JUDGE, JUAN MERCHAN, WANTED IT TO BE. I’M SURE HIS POLITICAL FRIENDS AND ALLIES, AND CROOKED JOE BIDEN, IN PARTICULAR, WILL BE THRILLED THAT THEY ARE GETTING AWAY WITH THIS CORRUPT, “ANCIENT,” AND HIGHLY POLITICAL ATTACK ON HIS 2024 PRESIDENTIAL OPPONENT. THESE EIGHT YEAR OLD STORIES, WHICH CAME OUT PRIOR TO THE 2016 ELECTION (THE VOTERS HAVE ALREADY, AND LOUDLY, SPOKEN!), AND HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS FAKE CASE, BROUGHT BY A CROOKED, SOROS BACKED NEW YORK CITY D.A., ALVIN BRAGG, SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO BE USED. VIRTUALLY EVERY LEGAL SCHOLAR AND EXPERT CALL IT A SHAM AND DISGRACE, ELECTION INTERFERENCE. IT IS AN INSULT TO AMERICAN JUSTICE!
