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Georgia Longstreet says she looked at between 5,000 and 10,000 social media posts in connection to this case.
Attorney Todd Blanche asks Longstreet if she decided which posts would be shown in court today.
"I'm just a paralegal, I don't call the shots," she says.
He first clarified with her that prosecutors opted to introduce seven of the thousands of posts she reviewed.

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s prosecutors continue to lay the foundation for their hush money criminal case against former President Donald Trump, anticipation is building for the possible appearance of a key potential witness: Hope Hicks, once considered one of Trump's closest confidantes and most trusted aides.

Hicks was "privy to everything" long before Trump's presidential campaign was taken seriously by many in the political establishment, says CNN national correspondent Kristen Holmes. "She is somebody who you would say, 'knows where the bodies are buried,'" Holmes said.

Hicks for many years served as the person who people would contact when they wanted to get access to Trump. That has given the potential of her testimony an air of deep intrigue.

Thursday, the prosecution entered a large batch of text messages into evidence, including messages between ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen and Hicks. The digital evidence also included Hicks' contact information on Cohen's phone.

Legal and political observers are watching closely for how she'll further factor into proceedings.

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Hope Hicks, once considered one of Donald Trump's closest confidantes, has been called to the stand as the prosecution's next witness.
As CNN has reported previously, Hicks appeared before the grand jury last year before Trump was indicted, as did Kellyanne Conway.
Hicks was Trump's press secretary during the campaign and could shed light on what was happening inside the political operation in the final weeks before the 2016 election, as Michael Cohen was paying off adult film star Stormy Daniels to remain quiet about an alleged affair that Trump worried could upend his presidential campaign. Trump reimbursed Cohen after he took office and has since been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records. The former president has pleaded not guilty and denied the affair.
Federal search warrants released in 2019 showed that prosecutors with the US attorney's office in the Southern District of New York found there was a mad scramble inside the Trump campaign to suppress additional allegations of a sexual nature from becoming public after the "Access Hollywood" tape was released in the fall of 2016.
At the time, Hicks called Cohen and Trump joined, according to the documents. From there Cohen, acting as a middleman, was involved in at least 10 telephone calls that day, some involving Trump and Hicks and others involving American Media Inc. executives David Pecker and Dylan Howard. AMI owns the National Enquirer tabloid.
Those conversations, FBI officials believed, were apparently about Daniels, an adult film actress also known as Stephanie Clifford, according to the documents.
When Hicks testified before the House Judiciary Committee shortly before the documents' release, she answered "no" when asked multiple times by Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee whether she was ever present when Trump and Cohen discussed Stormy Daniels, according to a transcript released of the closed-door interview.
Hicks also said she had no information about Daniels other than what she learned from reporters.

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aezmvp said:

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aggiehawg said:

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche is beginning by raising evidentiary objections to the next witness, a summary witness.
He cites a Trump's posts on Truth Social, Trump tweets and a tweet and article by the Washington Post and Blanche argues that there is hearsay information in the tweets and the article.
The article in question is the Post's piece on the "Access Hollywood" tape from October 2016.

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Hasn't stopped them to this point but hey it's a new day.

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Hope Hicks has entered the courtroom and is walking in the galley behind Trump.
Trump and attorney Todd Blanche smiled toward her.
She appeared to look straight ahead as she walked in.

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"I'm really nervous," Hope Hicks says while looking at the jury. She looks visibly uncomfortable after taking the stand.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo is handling the questioning.

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Hope Hicks is describing her work with Ivanka Trump.

"I was enjoying it so much that I was offered a position at the Trump Organization and jumped at the opportunity to join the company full time," she says.

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Hope Hicks is testifying pursuant to a subpoena and is paying for her attorney.

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Hope Hicks said she was last in contact with Trump in the summer or fall of 2022.

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Hope Hicks says she has no current professional relationship with Trump. He is not a client in her current role.

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Hope Hicks reiterated that she is nervous. She just stopped in the middle of her statement to say now that she can hear herself on the microphone, and it's going to take a moment to get used to.

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Hope Hicks is saying that in 2014, she started as the director of communications for Trump Organization, working on public relations materials and marketing collateral for the real estate and hospitality businesses. She says those businesses "were thriving" at the time.
Hicks says that when she transitioned into more of the political work, she began meeting with Trump more frequently.

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Hope Hicks is describing working with Trump, saying, "he's a very good multitasker."

"He's a very hard worker. He's always doing many things at once," Hicks says of Trump.

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It was not unusual for her to be in and out of Donald Trump's office during his meetings, Hope Hicks says.

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Hope Hicks says that by 2015, she spoke with Trump "on the phone every day if we weren't able to communicate in person."

"I would usually call the office and be connected, but he had a cell phone or a home phone number as well," she says

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Hope Hicks testifies that everybody who worked at the Trump Organization "in some sense reports to Mr. Trump."

"It's a very big and successful company but it's really run like a small family business in certain ways," Hicks says of Trump Org.

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Hope Hicks testifies that Donald Trump had a "close" relationship with Keith Schiller.
Schiller served as the director of security for The Trump Organization and then as deputy assistant to President Trump and director of Oval Office operations.
In 2017, he hand-delivered a letter from the president firing FBI Director James Comey, entering the FBI headquarters with a manila folder and leaving without it.

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When asked who Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka are, Hope Hicks gestures her hand toward the defense table, but keeps her gaze forward toward prosecutor Matthew Colangelo.

"They are Mr. Trump's children," she says.

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Prosecutors are now asking about Rhona Graff, who was Trump's former longtime assistant. Graff testified last week.
Graff and Trump had a relationship of "mutual respect," Hicks testifies.
"She was crucial to how everything ran on the 26th floor, she had a lot of institutional knowledge," Hicks says.

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Hope Hicks says that when she shifted to working on Trump's political campaign, Allen Weisselberg helped with the personal financial disclosure Trump was required to provide.
He also provided an explanation they'd share with the press about how Trump "self-financed his campaign" and "loaned" money to the campaign, she says.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asks Hicks to describe Weisselberg's relationship with Trump.
"Also mutual respect," she says. "He was a trusted person there."

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Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo now asks Hope Hicks about Michael Cohen's role at The Trump Organization.
"Do you know what kind of work he did?" he asks.
"Not specifically. I know he was involved in a couple of the licenses deals for some of the hotel projects and maybe some of the entertainment pieces as well, like Miss Universe pageant," she says.

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Hope Hicks is explaining how she began working for Trump's presidential campaign in 2015.
"Mr. Trump, one day said, 'We're going to Iowa,' and I didn't really know why," she says.
Attorney Todd Blanche smiled and leaned over to whisper in Trump's ear as she said this.
That initial Iowa trip was sometime in January 2015, she says.

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Hope Hicks is testifying about her role as campaign press secretary.
"It was kind of a constant flow of incoming questions so I managed all of those and tried to respond to everybody in a timely manner," she says.
"It was just me and Mr. Trump who is better than anybody at communications and branding," she says.
There was no communications team at this point in the campaign.

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Hope Hicks says Trump was "very involved" in his campaign and weighed in on media responses.

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Hope Hicks continues to describe campaign operations.
"Mr.Trump was reachable. I mean, when he wasn't doing rallies and interviews, he had a phone and he could be reached. But Keith was also helpful in facilitating phone calls," Hicks said, referring to Keith Schiller.
Remember: Schiller served as the director of security for The Trump Organization and then as deputy assistant to President Trump and director of Oval Office operations.
In 2017, he hand-delivered a letter from the president firing FBI Director James Comey, entering the FBI headquarters with a manila folder and leaving without it.

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Prosecutors are asking Hope Hicks about David Pecker.
"Do you know someone named David Pecker?" prosecutor Michael Colangelo asks.
"I know him as the publisher of American Media," Hicks replies.

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Hope Hicks described Trump and David Pecker as "friends."
She'd been introduced to him in a previous job and reconnected with him later when she worked with Trump. "I knew they were friends," she says.
Hicks doesn't recall when she knew that, but said "at some point I realized that."

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Hope Hicks says she was present for phone calls between David Pecker and Donald Trump during the campaign, including shortly after the National Enquirer published a piece on Ben Carson.

Trump "congratulated them on the great reporting," Hicks says. He called it "Pulitzer-worthy."

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Hope Hicks was asked if she was ever in and out of the office when Donald Tump was meeting with David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, at Trump Tower.
"I don't have a recollection of that," she testified.
Remember: Pecker testified that she was in and out of the August 2015 meeting at Trump Tower when the alleged conspiracy was hatched.

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Hope Hicks testified that they were traveling every day for the campaign in the fall of 2016.
Hicks described her campaign travel in fall 2016, where they would go on Trump's plane from LaGuardia Airport and do between two and four stops per day. Most days, she says they would return to Trump Tower at the end of the day.
As Hicks testified, Trump wrote a note under the table and passed it to attorney Todd Blanche

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Hope Hicks is testifying that she became aware of the "Access Hollywood" tape on October 7, 2016, after receiving an email from a Washington Post reporter seeking comment about it.

She said she was in her office on the 14th floor of Trump Tower at the time.

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Hicks is being shown a copy of the email she received from the Washington Post reporter who was seeking comment after the release of the "Access Hollywood" tape.
The email has been accepted into evidence and is being shown to everyone now.
Hicks smiles as she recalls she forwarded the email to others on the campaign.
The subject line reads "URGENT WashPost query."
"I have an extremely urgent request for you today," the email from David Fahrenthold on October 7, 2016, reads.
The jury is also being shown the transcript on the monitors in front of them.

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Asked what her first reaction was to receiving the email from the Washington Post reporter, Hope Hicks says, "I was concerned. Very concerned."
"There was a lot at play," she testifies.

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"I was concerned. I was concerned about the contents of the email. I was concerned about the lack of time to respond. I was concerned we had a transcript without a tape. There was a lot at play," she says.

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Hope Hicks says she forwarded the Washington Post email seeking comment to several senior leaders of the campaign, including Jason Miller, David Bossie, Kellyanne Conway, and Steve Bannon.

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Hope Hicks says Trump's campaign team was on the 25th floor of Trump Tower in a conference room at the time, prepping for a debate.
She recalled Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Jared Kushner and Jason Miller were there with others at the time.
She recalls seeing Jeff Sessions that day but doesn't think he was in the conference room at that time.

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Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asks if Donald Trump was upset when he saw the "Access Hollywood" tape.
"Yes. Yeah he was," hicks said.
Trump asked to see the actual tape, Hicks says. She adds she can't remember whether she saw the tape before the Washington Post published its story or not.

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Hope Hicks is recalling Trump's reaction to the "Access Hollywood" tape.

"He said that didn't sound like something he would say," Hicks says, noting Trump asked to see the actual tape.

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Hope Hicks said her first reaction to watching the tape was, "I was a little stunned."
Trump leaned over in the courtroom to his lawyer Todd Blanche to say something as she said this.
"It's hard to describe but it was definitely concerning I had a good sense this was going to be a massive story," Hicks testified.
"This was a damaging development" to the campaign, Hicks said.
She said there was consensus among the group: "The tape was damaging. This was a crisis.

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Hope Hicks says that "in that moment," she was not concerned about the impact the "Access Hollywood" tape would have on female voters but the concern crossed her mind maybe a few hours later or the next day.

"Certainly, eventually, that was something that was raised," she says.

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Hope Hicks says Donald Trump "didn't want to offend anybody."

"I think he felt like it was pretty standard stuff for two guys chatting with each other," she adds about the "Access Hollywood" tape.

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Trump was involved with the campaign response to the "Access Hollywood" tape, Hope Hicks testifies.
"He always liked to weigh in on responses," she says.
Hicks is shown a copy of the first statement the campaign put out on the tape. Trump leaned forward to look at the monitor in front of him as it was displayed.

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Hicks is reading the initial campaign statement for the jury. It's also displayed on a screen in the courtroom.

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"This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended," the statement reads.

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Prosecutors are now playing the video Trump released that evening for Hope Hicks.
She says she was present as the video was prepared.
Trump is engaged, watching Hicks on the screen and directly on the stand. He did appear to look at the statement on the monitor while it was shown to the jury.

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Hope Hicks was just asked about the media coverage surrounding the "Access Hollywood" tape.

Hicks bit her lip and replied, "It was intense."

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Hope Hicks is asked who released statements criticizing Donald Trump after the "Access Hollywood" tape.
She raises former House Speaker Paul Ryan and Sen. Mitt Romney.
Trump bobbed his head when she said the Republican lawmakers' names.

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Prosecutors put up Mitch McConnell's statement on the "Access Hollywood" tape on the screen.
Trump leaned in to look at the statement briefly.
Then, prosecutors showed Mitt Romney's statement. Trump slightly shook his head and did not look toward Romney's statement on the screen.

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aggiehawg said:

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Quote:

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Hope Hicks is recalling Trump's reaction to the "Access Hollywood" tape.

"He said that didn't sound like something he would say," Hicks says, noting Trump asked to see the actual tape.

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Hope Hicks said her first reaction to watching the tape was, "I was a little stunned."
Trump leaned over in the courtroom to his lawyer Todd Blanche to say something as she said this.
"It's hard to describe but it was definitely concerning I had a good sense this was going to be a massive story," Hicks testified.
"This was a damaging development" to the campaign, Hicks said.
She said there was consensus among the group: "The tape was damaging. This was a crisis.

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Hope Hicks says that "in that moment," she was not concerned about the impact the "Access Hollywood" tape would have on female voters but the concern crossed her mind maybe a few hours later or the next day.

"Certainly, eventually, that was something that was raised," she says.

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Hope Hicks says Donald Trump "didn't want to offend anybody."

"I think he felt like it was pretty standard stuff for two guys chatting with each other," she adds about the "Access Hollywood" tape.

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Trump was involved with the campaign response to the "Access Hollywood" tape, Hope Hicks testifies.
"He always liked to weigh in on responses," she says.
Hicks is shown a copy of the first statement the campaign put out on the tape. Trump leaned forward to look at the monitor in front of him as it was displayed.

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Hicks is reading the initial campaign statement for the jury. It's also displayed on a screen in the courtroom.

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"This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended," the statement reads.

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Prosecutors are now playing the video Trump released that evening for Hope Hicks.
She says she was present as the video was prepared.
Trump is engaged, watching Hicks on the screen and directly on the stand. He did appear to look at the statement on the monitor while it was shown to the jury.

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They are really hammering this Access Hollywood story.

Quote:

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Hope Hicks was just asked about the media coverage surrounding the "Access Hollywood" tape.

Hicks bit her lip and replied, "It was intense."

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Hope Hicks is asked who released statements criticizing Donald Trump after the "Access Hollywood" tape.
She raises former House Speaker Paul Ryan and Sen. Mitt Romney.
Trump bobbed his head when she said the Republican lawmakers' names.

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Prosecutors put up Mitch McConnell's statement on the "Access Hollywood" tape on the screen.
Trump leaned in to look at the statement briefly.
Then, prosecutors showed Mitt Romney's statement. Trump slightly shook his head and did not look toward Romney's statement on the screen.

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Who cares what they said? Is there a point to all of this?

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There's been an objection, and attorneys are now at the judge's bench.

Donald Trump is leaning over and chatting with his attorney Susan Necheles while lawyers are at side bar.

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Judge Juan Merchan sustains the Trump team's objection.
Donald Trump was writing something on a notepad while Emil Bove and Todd Blanche were at the bench. He showed it to Bove when he returned.

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Hope Hicks says she reached out to Michael Cohen to run down a rumor she had heard about another tape "that would be problematic for the campaign."

"There was no such tape, regardless, but he chased that down for me," Hicks says.

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The October 9, 2016 debate, moderated by CNN's Anderson Cooper and ABC News' Martha Raddatz, is now being discussed.
Hope Hicks says the "Access Hollywood" tape was raised during the debate as one of the first questions.
After the debate, Hicks confirms there were reports regarding Donald Trump's behavior with women.
The night after the debate, she says she was contacted by The New York Times. Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo stops her from describing the story.

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Prosecutors are now playing a video from a October 2016 rally in North Carolina where Trump denies these reports.

Asked if Trump was concerned these reports could hurt his standing with voters, Hicks replies, "Yes."

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Hope Hicks is now being asked about Trump's Twitter account. Twitter is now known as X.
Asked whether he considered it an important part of his campaign, she says "definitely."
During the campaign, Trump posted all of his own tweets or a staffer would post things that Trump personally approved.

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Prosecutors are now showing Donald Trump's tweets they had introduced into evidence previously, including his attack on the late Sen. John McCain and his denial of the allegations involving women.

Hope Hicks is reading the tweets of Trump's denials.

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Hope Hicks says she first heard of Karen McDougal on November 4, 2016, when contacted by the the Wall Street Journal.

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Hope Hicks says she had heard of Stormy Daniels one other time before Daniels was mentioned in the November 4, 2016, Wall Street Journal story.
Hicks says that security guys on Donald Trump's plane in 2015 were telling a story about a celebrity golf tournament and some of the participants, and Daniels' name came up.
She got the email about the WSJ story on Trump's plane as they were landing in Ohio for a rally, Hicks said.

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Hope Hicks got the email about the Wall Street Journal story on Trump's plane as they were landing in Ohio for a rally, she said.
The email laid out the story about American Media Inc. buying Karen McDougal's story of an affair with Trump.
The WSJ reporter asked if Trump had an affair with McDougal and was he or anyone close to him aware of or involved in the contract between McDougal and AMI.
Hicks says she believed that she mentioned the email to Trump before his rally because she was worried she wouldn't have enough time to respond otherwise.
The email is being displayed for the jury and most jurors are looking at their monitor.

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Hope Hicks says she forwarded the Wall Street Journal email to Jared Kushner because of his role on the campaign and also because of his relationship with Rupert Murdoch.
Hicks says she hoped to "buy a little extra time."

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Hope Hicks is testifying that she called Michael Cohen because she knew he had a relationship with David Pecker, the publisher of the National Enquirer.

She also called Pecker's office, she says.

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Prosecutors have resumed their questions for key witness Hope Hicks, picking up a line of inquiries around a 2016 article in the Wall Street Journal about Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels.
"I believe I heard Mr. Trump speaking to Mr. Cohen shortly after the story was published," Hicks testified.
Hicks, who has said she is nervous during the testimony, is wringing her hands as she says this.
"There was nothing memorable" about the call, she said.

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She said Reince Priebus was in the car with her and Trump at the time of the call with Michael Cohen.

They were traveling to a rally in Hershey, Pennsylvania, she said.

"I believe I heard Mr. Trump speaking to Mr. Cohen shortly after the story was published," Hicks testified.
Hicks, who has said she is nervous during the testimony, is wringing her hands as she says this.
"There was nothing memorable" about the call, she said.
Remember: Before the break, the former Trump aide was testifying about the November, 4, 2016, article, which reported that the National Enquirer had paid McDougal for the story of her alleged affair with Donald Trump, but had not published the story.
The piece also referenced Daniels, and that she had abruptly cut off talks with ABC to share her own story. It highlighted that the same lawyer represented both women.

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Prosecutors are now showing Hope Hicks and the jury the November 4, 2016, story from the Wall Street Journal

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SwigAg11 said:

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Does somehow convincing the jury that people were trying to extort Trump help the defense? Or could that make them believe that he would go to "extralegal" means to keep it quiet?

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Hope Hicks is now reading the denial she gave to the Wall Street Journal for the story.
At the time she told the reporter that the claim of the affair was "totally untrue."
Hicks is reluctant to quote or attribute anything to Donald Trump as verbatim.

Quote:

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Hicks said:
"I don't remember him saying to me verbatim, 'We have no knowledge of any of this.' I don't want to say that's what he said because I don't remember."

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Hope Hicks is now reading through a catalog of texts between herself and Mi

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Hope Hicks touches her chest and looks up as if trying to find the words when asked to quote Donald Trump or attribute his statements directly.
Hicks' body is turned towards the jury and she is angling her head towards the prosecutor when she speaks.
She is smiling nervously through her statements as she tries to explain that she can't remember verbatim statements.

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dallasiteinsa02 said:

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SwigAg11 said:

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Does somehow convincing the jury that people were trying to extort Trump help the defense? Or could that make them believe that he would go to "extralegal" means to keep it quiet?

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That seems to be the case they are building. Show a bunch of sleazy people all trying to extort money from each other with no direct ties to Trump. Put Cohen on the stand and show he was extorting money from Trump. Trump paid the extortion and miscoded it to legal services. He should go to jail and they all go without charges.

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The jury sees texts Michael Cohen sent to Hope Hicks with no response.

• "Call me." at 7:09 p.m.
• Any news?" at 8:50 p.m.
• Any news???" at 9:02 p.m.

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Hope Hicks giggles and laughs when reading an ironic typo included in the text.
She eventually responded later that night, sending Michael Cohen the article from the Wall Street Journal.

Quote:

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"Poorly written and I dot (sic) see it getting much play," Cohen had texted at 10:06 p.m.

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Hicks said: "I agree with most of that."
She added:

Quote:

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"It will get play bc the media is the worst but he should just ignore and blow past it. "

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Michael Cohen texted Hope Hicks saying he had a statement from Stormy Daniels.

"Even CNN not talking about it. No one believes it and if necessary, I have a statement by Storm denying everything and contradicting the other porn stars statement. I wouldn't use it now or even discuss it with him as no one is talking about this or cares!," Cohen said.

When asked about the text, Hicks said, "I didn't follow up and say what are you talking about what statement. I didn't know what he was talking about and I didn't want to know."

Hicks said of the coverage of the story, "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."

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Hope Hicks says she discussed the article with Trump.

"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 says.

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Hope Hicks says she asked for David Pecker's number from Michael Cohen.
She had one but Donald Trump thought it was the wrong number.
Hicks wanted the number because Trump wanted to speak to the publisher of the National Enquirer, she said.

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Noting how close to the 2016 election they were when the Wall Street Journal's reporting on Karen McDougal emerged, Hicks says the Trump campaign was just hoping to move forward.

Quote:

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"There was a lot going on, and you know, it wasn't like this story was consuming the news cycle and I needed to be aware of every little detail. I was kind of just hoping at this point we were going to just blow past it and keep going," she testifies.

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Asked whether the Wall Street Journal story would be an impact on Trump's presidential campaign, Hicks says: "Everything we talked about in the context of this time period and this time frame was about whether or not there was an impact on the campaign."

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Hope Hicks was appointed Director of Strategic Communications when she joined the White House.
She worked closely with Trump on media opportunities and spoke regularly to him during that time, she testifies.
Eventually, Hicks says she became White House communications director.

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Hope Hicks has turned to the jurors to explain what the outer Oval Office looks like at the White House.
She is describing directly to the jurors, making eye contact briefly.
She smiles slightly, and shifts her tone to informational and conversational. The jurors look directly at her.
"It's a very small space. Very small," she says of the area where she worked.

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Judge Juan Merchan overruled an objection about a question regarding Hope Hicks' awareness Karen McDougal suing American Media Inc. to be released from her non-disclosure agreement.

Hicks didn't remember that independently, but said she recently had her memory refreshed about the lawsuit.

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Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asks about an interview Karen McDougal did with CNN's Anderson Cooper. She was aware of the interview and watched the interview.
Hicks has no recollection of speaking to then-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker after that interview.
"To my knowledge ... I did not speak to Mr. Pecker. I did speak to Mr. Trump," she said.
Hicks left the White House five days later, though she later rejoined.

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aggiehawg said:

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Quote:

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The jury sees texts Michael Cohen sent to Hope Hicks with no response.

• "Call me." at 7:09 p.m.
• Any news?" at 8:50 p.m.
• Any news???" at 9:02 p.m.

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Hicks is looking at a document presented to her to refresh her recollection about a conversation with then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen about the $130,000 hush money payment made to Stormy Daniels.
Cohen told Hicks that the story of the payment wasn't true, that no payment had been made, that no relationship had transpired, and that he had documentation to prove no payment had been made.
Hicks asked Trump how he would like the team to respond to the story.
Some context: It's not clear what document prosecutors showed Hicks to jog her memory documents used solely for that purpose don't have to be shown to jurors because they don't have to be entered into evidence.

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Prosecutors are showing the jury and the court the Wall Street Journal story from 2018 about the hush money payment and a statement from a "White House official."

Hicks says she was not the White House official anonymously quoted in the story. "I can't say for sure" who it was, Hicks says, saying she believes it was Hogan Gidley, a former White House spokesperson.

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Matthew Colangelo asks Hope Hicks if, to her knowledge, Donald Trump communicated directly about the payment.

Quote:

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"I only know about one instance...sometime in the middle of February...Mr. Trump told me about it."

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The instance: The morning after Michael Cohen gave a statement to The New York Times that he had, in fact, made the payment without Trump's knowledge.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove will begin cross-examining Hope Hicks.

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Hope Hicks says she was skeptical about Michael Cohen's motives for making the payment.
"I didn't know Michael to be an especially charitable person or selfless person," she says, noting that Cohen is "the kind of person who seeks credit."
Hicks said it was "out of character" for Cohen.

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Quote:

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Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asks Hope Hicks whether the idea that Michael Cohen made the $130,000 payment on his own was consistent with her interactions with him.

Quote:

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"I'd say that would be out of character for Michael," Hicks says.

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Quote:

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Hope Hicks started tearing up after the direct examination finished and as Donald Trump attorney Emil Bove took the podium.
As soon as Bove began he asked her "I want to talk to you about your time at the Trump Organization."
Hicks appeared to have become overwhelmed by the moment.

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There's been a brief pause in the courtroom proceedings. The jury left the room.

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Hope Hicks is back on the stand. The bailiff is refilling her water cup.

The jury has also returned to the courtroom.

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"Sorry about that," Hicks says, as testimony resumes following a brief pause after the former Trump aide appeared to grow emotional.

"If you need a minute, just let me know," Trump attorney Emil Bove responds.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove is asking Hope Hicks about her relationship with Trump.
"You felt that you had his trust and respect?" Bove asks.
"His trust and respect, yes," Hicks said, her voice still quivering.

Bove confirmed again that Rhona Graff had a similar relationship of mutual respect. "I really looked up to Rhona," Hicks said.

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Hope Hicks is testifying that then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen tried to "insert himself" into the 2016 presidential campaign.
Hicks said Cohen "wasn't supposed to be on the campaign in any official capacity."
Hicks says the attorney "wasn't looped in on the day-to-day of campaign strategy," but he would go "rogue" and take actions that were unauthorized by Trump's team, frustrating the campaign.

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"He liked to call himself a fixer, or Mr. Fix It, and it was only because he first broke it that he was able to then fix it," she said.

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Several jurors are looking down as the cross-examination continues.

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Defense attorney Emil Bove is asking Hope Hicks about whether Trump was concerned about how the Karen McDougal story would affect things at home.
"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 and, you know, he really really respects what she has to say," Hicks says.
She says she does think Trump was concerned about what her "perception" would be.

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Attorney Emil Bove is asking Hope Hicks about when Trump's tax return data was leaked.

She says she also recalled campaign staff coming together to respond.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove clarified with Hope Hicks that when she mentioned hearing discussions on Trump's plane about Stormy Daniels years before the Wall Street Journal article in 2016, it was about Daniels relationship with football player Ben Roethlisberger.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove is asking Hicks about how she testified that Trump didn't want the newspapers delivered to the residence on November 4, 2016, when the Wall Street Journal story on Karen McDougal came out.
"There were parts of this that were very personal to him, right?" Bove asks.
"Absolutely. I don't think he wanted anyone in his family to be hurt or embarrassed by anything that was happening on the campaign trail. He wanted them to be proud of him," Hicks says.

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The cross-examination of Hope Hicks by Trump attorney Emil Bove is over.

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Hope Hicks is excused. Her testimony is over.
Judge Juan Merchan has called attorneys to the bench.

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Judge Juan Merchan says:

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"Alright jurors. We're going to call it a week."

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