Hope Hicks expected to testify in Trump ‘hush money’ trial: report
Former White House communications director Hope Hicks is expected to testify for the prosecution in the upcoming Manhattan criminal trial of former President Donald Trump.
NBC News, citing a source with direct knowledge, reported Monday on Hicks’ likely testimony, adding that the 35-year-old met last year for several hours with prosecutors from Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office.
Investigators reportedly believe that as Trump’s 2016 campaign press secretary, Hicks was involved in negotiating a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from going public with claims of a liaison with the then-Republican nominee a decade earlier.
In 2019, an attorney for Hicks insisted she had been unaware of the payment to Daniels until January 2018, when the Wall Street Journal reported on it.
Trump, 77, has denied having an affair with Daniels.
The charges against Trump stem from allegations that he falsified business records to conceal the reimbursement of the hush money to his then-attorney, Michael Cohen.
Cohen, who served out a three-year prison sentence for tax evasion and campaign finance violations among other charges, is co-operating with Bragg’s office and his expected to be a star witness in the case against Trump.
Trump, who is facing a total of 88 criminal counts across four separate indictments, has denied wrongdoing and ripped his prosecution as a “witch hunt” meant at blocking him from winning a second term later this year.
Daniels is also widely expected to testify once the trial begins.
The former president attempted to block Cohen and Daniels from appearing, but was shot down in court last month.
A lawyer for Hicks declined to comment. The Post has also contacted a Trump spokesperson and Bragg’s office for comment.
