Trump trial live: Hope Hicks details Access Hollywood tape fallous in testimony – The Independent

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Former aide to Donald Trump answers questions concerning times as press secretary for 2016 campaign
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Donald Trump is back at Manhattan Criminal Court for the latest instalment of his hush money trial on Friday, where testimony continues.
Former aide and press secretary to Mr Trump, Hope Hicks is currently testifying.
Ms Hicks was a crucial part of the 2016 Trump campaign and allegedly part of at least 10 telephone conversations with Mr Trump and former fixer and attorney Michael Cohen regarding the hush money payments and alleged reimbursements.
Her testimony covered the impact on the campaign of the Access Hollywood tape and news of the Karen McDougal affair. When asked about Cohen making the payment to Stormy Daniels she said it would be out of character for him to do that out of the kindness of his heart as Mr Trump had told her. She then cried and court took a break.
Earlier, Mr Trump’s attorneys cross-examined a forensic analyst from the Manhattan district attorney’s office who pulled thousands of files from Cohen’s phones, including the bombshell audio of a secretly recorded conversation from 2016, played yesterday, which captured Cohen and the defendant discussing a payment to Ms McDougal.
The Independent’s Alex Woodward is covering the trial at Manhattan Criminal Court.
Hope Hicks, the woman who once stood at the heart of Donald Trump’s political operations, took the witness stand in her former boss’s hush money trial in New York on Friday.
Once a key member of Trump’s inner circle, the two have not spoken since 2022. But according to insiders, Ms Hicks remains fond of the ex-president and wants nothing but the best for him — even as she appears under subpoena to give evidence in his so-called hush money trial.
Joe Sommerlad takes a look at who she is and how she got to the heart of Trumpworld.
Former White House communications director takes witness stand in New York to address hush money case
Former President Donald Trump was back in court this week for three days of testimony in his hush money trial in which he stands accused of election interference by paying adult film star Stormy Daniels to remain quiet about an alleged affair.
Mr Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records, which becomes a felony when it’s done in furtherance of another crime – that being the election interference, according to the prosecution.
While Michael Cohen isn’t on the witness stand yet, he’s still the star of the show. The man who arranged the payment to Ms Daniels and negotiated a tentative deal for former Playboy model Karen McDougal is on the lips of nearly every witness, we see his texts and emails to multiple witnesses, and we even hear his voice on secretly recorded audio collected from his phones. He will soon be a central witness.
Here are the key takeaways from the second week of testimony in Mr Trump’s hush money trial:
While Michael Cohen isn’t on the witness stand yet, Mr Trump’s former ‘fixer’ is still the star of the show
The prosecution’s star witness has yet to take the stand in Donald Trump‘s hush money trial. But jurors are already hearing Michael Cohen‘s words as prosecutors work to directly tie Trump to payments to silence women with damaging claims about him before the 2016 election.
The second week of testimony Donald Trump’s hush money case will wrap up Friday after jurors heard a recording of the former president that’s central to the case
Alex Woodward reports from the courthouse in Lower Manhattan:
A chief aide who gave voice to Donald Trump’s chaotic 2016 campaign for the presidency broke down in tears on the witness stand in his hush money trial, moments after she testified about payments to an adult film star whose allegations threatened to derail his campaign.
The emotional moment from Hope Hicks inside a Manhattan criminal court on Friday followed revealing testimony about her damage control in the weeks before Election Day, and her behind-the-scenes public relations efforts to salvage Mr Trump’s campaign while stories about his alleged affairs and vulgar comments about women were piling up.
Read on…
Donald Trump’s longtime aide revealed behind-the-scenes damage control over a vulgar Access Hollywood tape and allegations of his affairs
Could the same legal reasoning that saw Weinstein’s conviction appeal succeed help Trump overturn a possible guilty verdict in his New York trial?
Both former president and the disgraced Hollywood movie producer made court appearances in Manhattan this week
The independent accounting firm for the Trump Media & Technology Group, BF Borgers, has been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with substantial fraud.
The firm now faces allegations that they were running a “sham audit mill,” according to CNN.
No allegations of wrongdoing against Trump Media, the owner of Truth Social, were put forward by the commission.
Gustaf Kilander reports:
The independent accounting firm for the Trump Media & Technology Group, BF Borgers, has been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with substantial fraud.
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Hope Hicks, a former top aide to ex-president Donald Trump, testifies during his criminal trial before Justice Juan Merchan on 3 May 2024
REUTERS
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