[NYTimes]: Trump, who has largely avoided looking at Hicks during her testimony, locks his eyes on her as she starts to cry. By Kate Christobek
Bove has a tough job here. His client is furious with Hicks. And Bove will have to impeach her credibility or otherwise disrupt her testimony without coming off as too aggressive and alienating sympathetic jurors. The prosecutors are now leaving the room hastily, looking somewhat concerned. By Jonah Bromwich
[NYTimes]: As we mentioned earlier today, this is going to be a tricky cross-examination for the defense lawyer, Emil Bove, especially with a vulnerable witness. And Hope Hicks just began to cry. By Jonah Bromwich
[NYTimes]: Hope Hicks is now describing the initial Wall Street Journal article about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. She says she cannot recall certain facts about this period, including a conversation with Michael Cohen. But she says if the prosecution has something to refresh her memory, she is willing to look at it. She has gotten considerably more nervous-looking again, clenching her jaw and stumbling a bit in her speech.
charges are falsifying business records to hide #HushMoney payments in lead up to 2016 election to #influence electorate
just one Trump supporter at the courthouse draped in a Trump flag.
#StormyDaniels's lawyer, #KeithDavidson, to return to stand. He negotiated the hush-money payment at the center of the case, & is expected to lay out details of the deal.
Cohen says he’s got a denial from #StormyDaniels, whom he calls “Storm,” but is holding it in reserve.
Hicks says Trump was very concerned about the WSJ story about his affairs & the #HushMoney payments. He was worried about his wife’s reaction & asked Hicks to make sure newspapers weren’t delivered to their residence.
Prosecutor Colangelo asked further about Trump’s reaction to the WSJ article, specifically if #Trump was concerned about the campaign.
#HopeHicks acknowledged that Trump was concerned about that & asked her how the story “was playing” — given this was only a few days before the election.
The testimony about Melania is what the Trump defense will seize on. It provides an alternative motive for the cover up.
#HopeHicks describes reaction to the WSJ article on the $130k paid to #StormyDaniels & says she can’t recall certain facts about this period.
Hicks said she believes she overheard #MichaelCohen, #Trump & #ReincePriebus talking as they were in a car at the airport on their way to a campaign rally in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Hicks said she heard Trump but doesn’t remember what was said.
Priebus is on the list of witnesses, expect him to be questioned about the conversation.
#HopeHicks was Trump's WH communications director when #KarenMcDougal sued to be released from her #AMI contract that barred her from speaking about her relationship w/ #Trump.
Hicks testifies Westerhout, Trump's exec asst, texted her, "Hey - the president wants to know if you called David #Pecker again?"
She adds that when she spoke to Trump after McDougal was interviewed on CNN by Anderson Cooper, she didn’t “recall him mentioning Mr. Pecker in those conversations."
#HopeHicks testifies that the morning after #MichaelCohen told The NYT that he had paid #StormyDaniels w/o Trump’s knowledge, #Trump told her Cohen made the payment to protect Trump from false allegations & did it “out of the kindness of his heart”.
Hicks is asked what she made of what Trump said.
Hicks says, “I’d say that would be out of character for Michael. I did not know Michael to be an especially charitable or selfless person; he is a kind of person who seeks credit.”
2X defense tried to object to the prosecutor asking #HopeHicks whether it would have been in character for #MichaelCohen to have paid the #HushMoney w/o telling #Trump. The judge overruled the objections.
The testimony goes directly to Trump being behind the payment to #StormyDaniels, not Cohen.
Then, Hicks bolsters another part of the state's case, saying that it would have been bad if the scandal came out before the election.
Bove, the defense lawyer asks about her relationships w/the #Trump family & employees of the #TrumpOrganization.
The questions may be designed to remind Hicks of her fondness for the family or that she owes them somehow.
Bove asks about #MichaelCohen not having an ofcl role w/Trump's 2016 campaign.
“He would try to insert himself at certain moments," she says, feeding into the defense's argument that Cohen was freelancing.
#Bove builds on the #MichaelCohen was freelancing angle, he gets #HopeHicks to agree that Cohen "went rogue" & did things that were “unauthorized."
Hicks helps the defense out by saying, "He liked to call himself a fixer, or Mr. Fix-it, & it was only because he first broke it."
Bove, moves on to when Hicks worked on #Trump's 1st campaign saying the work she did for Trump, & the work done by #Pecker, ( #NationalEnquirer) was all standard operating procedure for a candidate.
"While you were focused on your job at the White House, you didn't have anything to do w/the business records of the #TrumpOrganization 200+ miles away in NYC, did you?"
Hicks said she didn't.
This brings attention to the fact that the actual charges of falsifying business records have yet to be discussed.
Hicks is excused & leaves the courtroom.
#Trump doesn't look at her as she leaves.
Neither does she look at him.