Trump tried to hide news of alleged affair from wife, former aide testifies
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Donald Trump was so “concerned” about his wife seeing stories of his alleged affair with a former Playboy model he tried to hide the news from her, according to his former aide.
On Friday Hope Hicks became the first person from Mr Trump’s inner circle to testify in the 11-day-old hush-money trial.
She was glued to his side during his 2016 campaign and followed him to the White House to become the director of communications.
“I’m really nervous,” she said, as her former boss, sitting only feet away, stared at her.
During her testimony, Ms Hicks gave a fascinating insight into how Mr Trump responded in the wake of a string of sleaze scandals.
When a story about a $150,000 hush money payment made to Karen McDougal by the National Enquirer to cover up an alleged affair with Mr Trump was published in the Wall Street Journal, Ms Hicks said the former president was worried about how his wife would react.
“He was concerned about how it would be viewed by his wife, and he wanted me to make sure that the newspapers weren’t delivered to his residence that morning,” she said.
Ms Hicks later said Mr Trump “really values Mrs Trump’s opinion”, adding: “She doesn’t weigh in all the time, but when she does it’s really meaningful to him and, you know, he really, really respects what she has to say.”
He also didn’t want “anyone in his family to be hurt or embarrassed”, she said.
Separately, text messages read out in court showed how Ms Hicks and Michael Cohen, Mr Trump’s former “fixer”, sent a string of frantic texts after the story about Ms McDougal broke. “Pray Michael, pray!!!” Ms Hicks wrote to Cohen, in a flurry of texts.
Cohen suggested that Mr Trump put out a statement claiming the WSJ had “turned into a smut paper”.
Avoiding looking at her former employer, Ms Hicks also detailed how Mr Trump had been “upset” after watching a leaked video of him describing grabbing women “by the p----”.
The communications consultant, 35, described how chaos unfolded in Trump Tower after she was contacted by a Washington Post reporter about a leaked Access Hollywood recording they were going to publish. It captured a now-infamous conversation about women with the television host Billy Bush in 2005 that was caught on a hot mic.
In it, Mr Trump said: “I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ‘em by the p----. You can do anything.”
Ms Hicks said she was “shocked” and went to discuss the issue with Mr Trump’s top team, who had been with him in the conference room practising for the second presidential debate.
The former model told the jury she read Mr Trump the transcript of the conversation and he replied by saying the comments “didn’t sound like something he would say” before asking to see the recording.
Asked by prosecution lawyer Matthew Colangelo if Mr Trump was “upset” when he saw the tape, she said: “Yes, yeah he was.”
Dressed in a blue suit and tie, Mr Trump leant back in his chair and closed his eyes while Ms Hicks described the ensuing fallout from the infamous tape.
“I think there was consensus amongst us all that the tape was damaging and this was a crisis,” she told the court. She later said Mr Trump “felt like this wasn’t good, but it was also just like two guys talking, locker-room talk”.
Court was momentarily disrupted when Ms Hicks suddenly burst into tears shortly after defence lawyer Emil Bove began his cross-examination.
Mr Bove had been asking the witness about her career at the Trump Organisation when a visibly shaken Ms Hicks began to cry.
The glamorous former aide turned to the side, using her blonde hair to conceal her face, before Judge Juan Merchan suggested the court take a short break.
Mr Trump, who had spent most of Friday’s court session with his eyes closed looked at Ms Hicks and spoke to his lawyers following the outburst.
The former White House staffer also recounted how she was surprised when Cohen informed her in 2018 he had made the $130,000 hush money payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels out of the “kindness of his heart”.
“I don’t know Michael to be an especially charitable person or selfless person,” she told the court.
As she exited the courtroom following less than three hours of testimony, Ms Hicks looked directly at her former boss for a few seconds.
Mr Trump nodded in her direction as she passed the defence table.
He has pleaded not guilty to 34 charges of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to Ms Daniels, who was threatening to go public with her story of their 2006 sexual encounter.
Mr Trump has denied ever being sexually involved with either Ms McDougal or Ms Daniels.
The trial continues.
09:01 PM BST
That’s all for now
Thanks for following our live coverage as the third week of Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial drew to a close with Hope Hicks on the witness stand. This live blog is now closed.
08:52 PM BST
Trump ‘very interested in what took place today’
Donald Trump said he was “very interested in what took place today” in court but could not comment on Hope Hicks’ testimony because of his gag order.
Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, he went on to hit out at prosecutors and the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, and claimed the country was “going to hell”.
08:37 PM BST
Hicks looks at Trump as she leaves stand
On Hope Hicks’ way out of the courtroom she looked directly at Donald Trump - her former boss - for a few seconds.
08:34 PM BST
Hicks cross-examination finishes
Hope Hicks’ cross-examination is now over.
Court has been adjourned for the day. The trial will resume at 2:30pm BST (9:30am local time) on Monday.
08:33 PM BST
Trump ‘wanted family to be proud of him’
Hope Hicks said Donald Trump “really values” his wife’s opinion and was concerned about how she would view the Access Hollywood tape.
“She doesn’t weigh in all the time, but when she does, it’s really meaningful to him,” Ms Hicks said.
“He really, really respects what she has to say. I think he was just concerned of what her perception of this would be.”
Ms Hicks later added: “I don’t think he wanted anyone in his family to be hurt or embarrassed by anything that was happening on the campaign. He wanted them to be proud of him.”
08:31 PM BST
Trump ‘really respects what wife has to say’
“President Trump really values Mrs. Trump’s opinion, and she doesn’t weigh in all the time, but when she does, it’s really meaningful to him,” Hope Hicks said.
“He really, really respects what she has to say – I think he was just concerned of what her perception of this would be.”
08:25 PM BST
‘Grab them by the p----’ video was ‘crisis’ for Trump team
A leaked recording in which Donald Trump claimed he could “grab [women] by the p----” threw his campaign team into “crisis”, its former press secretary said.
Called as a prosecution witness for Mr Trump’s “hush money” trial in New York, Hope Hicks the former president was “upset” when the “Access Hollywood” tape emerged, and initially claimed it “didn’t sound like something he would say”.
Ms Hicks said the recording, released a month before the presidential election, was a “damaging development” for the then-Republican candidate and his campaign.
“I think there was consensus amongst us all that the tape was damaging and this was a crisis,” she told the court.
The statement is significant because prosecutors argue Mr Trump was determined to prevent any stories about his sexual conduct emerging before the election.
As such, they say, he reimbursed his “fixer” for paying $130,000 to an adult film star with whom he allegedly had an affair and recorded the expense as legal fees. Mr Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records.
08:24 PM BST
‘Cohen called himself Mr Fix-It’
Asked whether Cohen did things frustrating to campaign staff and went “rogue” at times, Ms Hicks said “yes”.
“I used to say he liked to call himself a ‘fixer’ or ‘Mr Fix-It’ and it was only because he first broke it”, she added.
08:20 PM BST
Hicks back on witness stand
Hope Hicks is back on the witness stand.
She’s alert and answering questions about her career at the Trump Organisation.
08:15 PM BST
Hicks bursts into tears
Hope Hicks just burst into tears on the witness stand moments after Emil Bove started his cross-examination.
Mr Bove was asking Ms Hicks biographical details about her career at the Trump Organisation when she suddenly started crying.
The court is now taking a short break.
08:07 PM BST
Cohen ‘not an essentially selfless person’
Hope Hicks has become the latest witness to paint an unflattering picture of Cohen.
She recounted how Cohen made a statement in the wake of the fallout over the payment to Ms Daniels saying how had made the payment out of the kindness of his heart.
“I don’t know Michael to be an especially charitable person or selfless person”, she described him as “the kind of person who seeks credit.”
07:59 PM BST
Cohen ‘said no payment made to Stormy Daniels’
Ms Hicks is being asked about the story breaking about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels.
When she initially spoke to Cohen he said it “wasn’t true, no payment had been made and he had a statement from Stormy Daniels… he had documentation to prove that no payment had been made.”
Ms Hicks said she also discussed how to respond to the story with Mr Trump.
07:57 PM BST
Hicks spoke to Trump after McDougal interview
Hope Hicks recalled speaking to Donald Trump after CNN broadcaster an interview with Karen McDougal, who said she had a 10-month affair with the former president in 2006.
However, she did not remember speaking to David Pecker, then publisher of the National Enquirer. Mr Pecker told the court last month he paid $150,000 for the rights to Ms McDougal’s story.
07:55 PM BST
Trump ‘motionless’ as alleged affairs discussed
Mr Trump is still sitting with his eyes completely shut.
It’s fascinating to watch him sit there motionless as salacious details about his alleged involvement in affairs and protecting his wife are discussed in a criminal courtroom.
07:48 PM BST
Hicks: Trump ‘concerned’ wife would see affair story
Hope Hicks laughed as she read out a text in which she told Cohen to “keep praying” and the suggestion that was the reason the story hadn’t been widely picked up.
”It wasn’t being picked up in the same way as the way the Access Hollywood tape was. It wasn’t wall-to-wall coverage”, she said.
Ms Hicks added that Donald Trump was concerned about his wife Melania seeing the story.
“He was concerned about the story. He was concerned about how it would be viewed by his wife, and he wanted me to make sure that the newspapers weren’t delivered to his residence that morning,” she said.
07:38 PM BST
Hicks to testify on texts sent to Cohen
Now we’re onto the flurry of text messages sent between Hope Hicks and Michael Cohen after the Wall Street Journal approached Ms Hicks for comment for the story that the National Enquirer had bought the rights to Ms McDougal’s story but never ran it.
07:28 PM BST
Trump campaign ‘wasn’t aware of McDougal deal’
The jury has been shown the Wall Street Journal article about the National Enquirer buying the rights to Karen McDougal’s story but not publishing it.
Hope Hicks was quoted in the article and was asked to read out her comment in which she said the claims of an affair were “totally untrue”.
Asked whether Mr Trump had asked her to say that the campaign had “no knowledge” of the story, she said: “ I don’t remember him verbatim saying that but that was the consensus.”
She added: “The campaign wasn’t aware of this agreement AMI had with Ms McDougal.”
07:23 PM BST
Court back in session
Court is back in session. Hope Hicks has resumed her testimony.
07:22 PM BST
Trump and Hicks return
Donald Trump has come back into the courtroom. US media reports that he watched Hope Hicks as she returned to the witness stand.
07:07 PM BST
Pictured: Juan Merchan listens as evidence given in ‘hush money’ case
06:20 PM BST
Trump’s team started ‘praying’ when Playboy bunny story broke
Donald Trump’s team started “praying” when the Wall Street Journal published a story about a “hush money” payment made to an alleged former mistress and Playboy model.
Mr Trump is alleged to have had a 10-month affair with Karen McDougal in 2006. Ten years later, he is claimed to have enlisted the National Enquirer tabloid to cover up their relationship by paying her $150,000.
It is one of a series of payments at the centre of Mr Trump’s “hush money” trial, which is taking place in New York.
Prosecutors submitted evidence to the court on Friday of text messages between Michael Cohen, his former “fixer”, and Hope Hicks, a Trump campaign aide, grappling with the fallout as the story broke.
“Pray, Michael, pray!” Ms Hicks wrote to Cohen in a flurry of texts when the article was published in Nov 2016.
Cohen, who has suggested Mr Trump put out a statement claiming the Wall Street Journal had “turned into a smut paper”, said the article seemed to be getting “little to no traction”. Ms Hicks wrote back seconds later: “Keep praying!! It’s working!”
06:14 PM BST
Court breaks for lunch
Court has now broken for lunch. Hope Hicks is expected to resume her testimony when it returns.
06:00 PM BST
Hicks: Pecker insisted McDougal deal was ‘very legitimate’
Hope Hicks said she called Cohen after she received the Wall Street Journal email as she knew he had a relationship with David Pecker.
She said Cohen “feigned like he didn’t know what he was talking about” and suggested she contact Mr Pecker.
When she spoke to the tabloid boss, he “explained that Karen McDougal was paid for magazine covers and fitness columns and it was all very legitimate and that is what the contract was for”.
05:50 PM BST
Hicks questioned about McDougal and Daniels
Hope Hicks has been asked about Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels.
She said she first heard Ms McDougal’s name on 4 November 2016 when the Wall Street Journal contacted her about the National Enquirer buying her story about an alleged affair with Donald Trump which never ran.
She and Mr Trump had just landed in Ohio, where Mr Trump was due to hold a rally.
She said Ms Daniels was mentioned in the same story, and she had heard her name once before following a celebrity golf tournament with Mr Trump.
05:31 PM BST
Hicks: Access Hollywood was damaging for Trump campaign
Hope Hicks said the Access Hollywood tape was a “damaging development” for the Trump campaign.
She said it “obviously wasn’t helpful… there were a lot of layers to it… pulling us backwards in a way that was going to be hard”, she said.
She added: “I think there was consensus amongst us all that the tape was damaging and this was a crisis”.
Hope Hicks said she wasn’t concerned about female voters at the time but “eventually that was something that was raised”.
Asked how the team thought they should reply, she said Mr Trump “thought this wasn’t good but it was also just two guys talking privately, that it was locker room talk, not something to get upset over… felt it was standard stuff for two guys chatting with each other.”
05:30 PM BST
Trump ‘upset’ over Access Hollywood story
Hope Hicks said Donald Trump said the Access Hollywood transcript “didn’t sound like something he would say” and asked to see the recording.
Ms Hicks said she was with Mr Trump when he saw the tape. Asked if he was upset, she said “yes, yeah he was”.
Asked how she felt after she saw the video, she said she was “just a little stunned”.
“It’s hard to describe but yeah it was definitely concerning and I had a good sense that this was going to be a massive story and sort of dominate the news cycle for the next couple of days at least”, she said.
05:28 PM BST
‘Deny, deny, deny’
When Ms Hicks received the email from the Washington Post she forwarded it to her Trump campaign colleagues saying “[we] need to hear the tape to be sure” and “deny, deny, deny”.
Ms Hicks said this was “a reflex”. “I obviously was a little shocked”, she said.
She then went and found Mr Trump’s top team, who were with him in the conference room practicing for a debate.
Alarmed by five or six of his team gathered outside, Mr Trump asked her to come into the room and “share with him what we were discussing”.
“I shared the email with Mr Trump verbally… we were at the time trying to get an audio copy of the tape to assess the situation further”, she said.
Mr Hicks added: “We weren’t sure how to respond yet, everyone was just absorbing the shock of it.”
“I read him the email and I have a vague recollection of starting to read the transcript and he finished reading it himself”.
05:24 PM BST
Trump ‘weighed in on media responses’
Hope Hicks said Donald Trump was involved in the campaign’s response to the “Access Hollywood” controversy. “He always liked to weigh in on responses,” she said.
05:14 PM BST
Hicks ‘very concerned’ by Access Hollywood tape
Ms Hicks is now being asked about the Access Hollywood tape.
She said she first became aware of the infamous audio clip which threatened to derail Mr Trump’s presidential bid on 7 October 2016 when she received an email from a Washington Post reporter asking for comment.
Ms Hicks is now being shown the email, which includes a transcript of the tape. She said she was “very concerned” when she received the email.
“I was concerned about the content of the email, I was concerned about the lack of time to respond, I was concerned that we had a transcript but not a tape”, she said.
”There was a lot at play”, she added.
05:13 PM BST
What was the Ben Carson story?
In 2016, when Ben Carson was running in the Republican primaries, the National Enquirer ran a story claiming the former neurosurgeon had left a sponge in a young girl’s brain and been sued repeatedly by patients.
Mr Carson responded claiming that his political opponents had found “five or six disgruntled people … and many of those cases never went anywhere”.
05:03 PM BST
Trump ‘said coverage of political rival was Pulitzer-worthy’
Hope Hicks said she overheard Donald Trump telling former tabloid boss David Pecker his reporting on his political rival Ben Carson was “Pulitzer worthy”.
She said Mr Trump was speaking to Mr Pecker on speakerphone and called to congratulate Mr Pecker on “great reporting” and a “great investigative piece” about medical malpractice.
Ms Hicks earlier said she met Mr Pecker in a previous role and “reconnected with him at some point as he was a friend of Mr Trump’s”.
04:54 PM BST
Trump ‘took lead in dealing with the media’
Hope Hicks said Trump was “very involved” in his campaign and took the lead in crafting responses to the media.
“He knew what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it. We were all just following his lead,” she told the court.
“He deserves the credit for the different messages that the campaign focused on in terms of the agenda that he put forth.”
04:52 PM BST
Hicks: Trump joked about me becoming campaign press secretary
Hope Hicks said Donald Trump is “better than anyone at communications and branding”.
While Ms Hicks was dishing out plaudits for the former president, Mr Trump was sitting face-forward with his eyes closed.
Earlier she said Mr Trump had joked early on about her becoming campaign press secretary, but this later became a reality.
04:44 PM BST
Hicks: I last spoke with Donald Trump in 2022
Hope Hicks said she is now a communications consultant and Donald Trump is not a client and the pair have no professional relationship.
The pair last spoke in 2022, she told the court.
Describing how she started working at the Trump Organisation full time in 2014 she said she had “jumped” at the opportunity.
Ms Hicks said she would meet Mr Trump once a week when she initially started at the Trump Organisation, but this later increased to meeting every day.
Ms Hicks described Mr Trump as a “very hard worker”. She said she was often called into his meetings.
Ms Hicks was asked to speak into the microphone, she then laughed and said it was “very different” and would take a moment to get used to.
04:42 PM BST
Hicks ‘spoke to Trump every day’
Hope Hicks said that by 2015 she spoke with Donald Trump “on the phone every day if we weren’t able to communicate in person.”
She added: “I would usually call the office and be connected, but he had a cell phone or a home phone number as well.”
04:34 PM BST
Hicks ‘looking glamorous’ as she is sworn in
Hope Hicks, Mr Trump’s former aide, has just been sworn in.
Ms Hicks, a former model, looks glamorous with perfectly styled blonde hair.
She started her testimony by saying “I’m really nervous”.
04:33 PM BST
Hicks ‘really nervous’ before giving evidence
Hope Hicks admitted she was “really nervous” as she took to the witness stand, looking towards the jury.
04:32 PM BST
Who is Hope Hicks?
In the Trump White House, which became a revolving door of presidential aides, it was Hope Hicks who managed to hang around the longest.
Ms Hicks, a 31-year-old former model, was one of the very first people to join Donald Trump’s fledgling presidential campaign and one of few that remained close to him years after he took office.
Read our profile of Hope Hicks, published in October 2020, here.
04:28 PM BST
Hope Hicks called to witness stand
Hope Hicks, the former White House communications director and one of Donald Trump’s longest-serving aides, has been called to the witness stand by the prosecution.
04:26 PM BST
Cohen podcast question draws laugh from Trump
A smile and laugh from Donald Trump when Georgia Longstreet is grilled by Todd Blanche during cross-examination.
Asked if she listened to every episode of Michael Cohen’s podcast Mea Culpa, Ms Longstreet said: “absolutely not.”
Mr Trump turned to the witness stand and grinned, while Mr Blanche laughed and said “fair enough”.
04:22 PM BST
Trump: I never had an affair with ‘horseface’
The jury is being shown past Donald Trump’s past social media posts.
The prosecution kicked off by playing the video statement Mr Trump Tweeted after the release of the infamous Access Hollywood tape.
Other posts included Tweets from 2016 in which Mr Trump claimed “nothing ever happened with any of these women” and accused the media of running “totally phoney stories”.
A 2023 Truth Social post saying “I did nothing wrong in the ‘horseface’ case… never had an affair with her, just another false acquisition by a SleazeBag”, was also shown.
04:20 PM BST
‘Nobody has more respect for women than me’
Prosecutors played the statement Donald Trump released on Twitter in response to the “Access Hollywood” tape, in which he made crude remarks about women.
Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t reflect who I am,” the then-Republican candidate said. “I said it. I was wrong and I apologise.”
The jury was shown another tweet sent out from Mr Trump’s account, which reads: “Nobody has more respect for women that me.”
04:13 PM BST
Pictured: Trump watches his lawyer cross-examine witness
04:08 PM BST
Lawyers clash on evidence admission as court resumes
Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench.
The defence and prosecution are thrashing out whether specific exhibits can be admitted into evidence.
04:07 PM BST
Chill in the air at Manhattan courtroom
I have finally been hit by the courtroom chill Donald Trump has been complaining about.
Today in the court’s overflow room it is noticeably colder than in previous days, making my decision to leave my coat at home a questionable one.
03:51 PM BST
Court to resume shortly
The court is now taking a short break.
03:47 PM BST
Trump ‘perks up’ at mention of Twitter
Georgia Longstreet being asked about analysing social media posts and verified accounts on Twitter and Truth Social.
Donald Trump is once again sitting back and resting his eyes. He perked up briefly when Ms Longstreet read out his Twitter handle.
03:44 PM BST
Witness asked to explain ‘how Twitter works’
Georgia Longstreet told the court that she has reviewed up to 10,000 social media posts and news articles that are relevant to Donald Trump’s case.
“Can you briefly describe how Twitter works?” she was asked by the prosecution.
03:40 PM BST
Paralegal called as next witness
Georgia Longstreet, paralegal at the New York district attorney’s office, is the next witness.
03:32 PM BST
‘We’ll have to take Michael Cohen’s word for it’
Emil Bove finished his questioning of Douglas Daus by suggesting there are “questions” about the data gathered from Cohen’s phone.
Giving examples of FBI searches and the phone being powered on and off, Mr Bove said: “those all present real challenges in understanding this data, right?”
Mr Dause responded that it would “have to be taken into account”.
Mr Bove replied: “In many ways, we’re just going to have to take Michael Cohen’s word for it, aren’t we?”
“Yes”, Mr Daus said.
03:24 PM BST
Pictured: Trump flanked by lawyers as court resumes
03:22 PM BST
Trump closes eyes as defence cross-examine forensic analyst
Emil Bove has been cross-examining Douglas Daus, a custodial witness, for an usual amount of time.
He has been asking intricate details about when and how the data from the phone was downloaded by the forensic analyst.
Mr Trump has been closing his “beautiful blue eyes” for quite some time amid the discussion about metadata and laptop syncing.
03:17 PM BST
Trump lawyer brings up Harvey Weinstein case
Harvey Weinstein was mentioned by defence lawyer Todd Blanche earlier in court proceedings.
Mr Blanche was hoping to block a Washington Post article about the Access Hollywood tape from being entered into evidence, along with a Tweet.
Mr Blanche mentioned the Court of Appeals decision to overturn Weinstein’s rape convictions.
Judge Juan Merchan said “the Weinstein decision really doesn’t factor into this.”
He said: “The Court of Appeals did not create any new law. They simply applied it to the facts of that case.
03:06 PM BST
Forensic analyst back on witness stand
Douglas Daus, a forensic analyst at the Manhattan district attorney’s office, is back on the stand.
Yesterday Mr Daus was used to introduce a raft of evidence taken from Michael Cohen’s phones.
He is currently being cross-examined by Emil Bove, a lawyer for Mr Trump.
03:05 PM BST
Welcome
Hello and welcome to the live blog. Benedict Smith here. We’ll be bringing you all the updates from the New York courtroom where Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial is continuing.
