Hope Hicks Makes Donald Trump’s Melania Defense Harder

Hope Hicks’ evidence in the Donald Trump hush money trial has made it harder for the former president to claim he was hiding a potential scandal from his wife, a New York attorney has said.

Janos Marton was reacting to testimony on Friday by the former White House communications director, who broke down in the witness stand as she gave evidence against Trump. The former president denies claims by adult film star Stormy Daniels that they had an affair, but claims he was trying to hide Daniels’ allegations from his wife, Melania, not from the voting public.

Marton told Newsweek that the involvement of Hicks in the discussions about Daniels make it harder for Trump’s lawyers to claim that the payments were to hide the allegations from Trump’s wife, Melania.

“For the jury, the optics of the campaign press secretary being involved at all makes it harder to claim the payoff was related to some personal matter,” he said.

Marton said that the Manhattan District Attorney’s office “will use Hope Hicks‘ testimony as further evidence that the Stormy Daniels payment was done to head off what would have been a devastating political scandal days before the 2016 election – complete with emails and texts as evidence.”

However, he said that her knowledge of the payments is limited and she is a “non-cooperating” witness, meaning that she is not charged with any crime and so is under no pressure to divulge every detail.

“Importantly, Hicks is a non-cooperating witness, and she’s previously testified in Congress that she was unaware of the deal itself, so the value of her testimony in connecting Trump to a crime will be limited,” he said.

Hicks testified about the effect that the Stormy Daniels claims had on Trump’s 2016 election campaign and on his presidency, rather than on the intricacies of the deal itself.

New York University law professor Stephen Gillers told Newsweek that Hicks’ position as White House communications director gives her evidence credibility.

“On one hand, Hicks’ testimony duplicates Pecker’s, adding only marginal information. However, she is a more powerful witness for the prosecution because, unlike Pecker, she was a senior person in the administration and the 2016 campaign and worked for the Trump Organization.”

“There is good reason for the jury to trust her testimony because she is seen as a Trump loyalist. I’m sure she doesn’t want to be sitting in the witness chair. But unlike some of Trump’s former lawyers and aides, Hicks was not going to take a bullet for her former boss,” he said.

Hicks served as a senior White House adviser during the Trump administration, having become a full-time employee of Trump’s property company, The Trump Organization, in late 2014.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in an attempt to conceal hush money paid to Daniels and former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, which were facilitated by his former attorney, Michael Cohen. Trump also denies having an affair with McDougal.

The former president claims that all of his legal troubles—which include 54 additional felony charges across three other criminal indictments—are part of a Democrat-orchestrated “witch hunt” that amounts to “election interference” as he seeks to regain the presidency in November.

During her testimony, Hicks agreed with the prosecutor that Cohen would not have made the hush-money payments “out of the kindness of his own heart” because he is not “an especially charitable person or selfless person.”

According to Newsweek reporter Katherine Fung, who was at the courthouse, Hicks began crying shortly after Trump defense lawyer Emil Bove began his cross-examination.

After a short break, Hicks glanced at Trump, who had largely avoided eye contact with his former aide, as she made her way back into the courtroom. She then continued with her evidence.