Former White House aide Hope Hicks is expected to be a key witness in the hush money trial of former President Donald Trump, following the testimony of National Enquirer former publisher David Pecker. Pecker portrayed Hicks as a liaison between him and Trump as he sought to suppress allegations of extramarital affairs on Trump’s behalf. Hicks, a close confidant of Trump who served as his press secretary during his 2016 campaign and communications director during his presidency, previously testified before the Manhattan grand jury that brought criminal charges against Trump last year.
Throughout Pecker’s testimony, Hicks’ name was mentioned several times, indicating her involvement in coordinating hush money payments to individuals threatening to come forward with affair allegations against Trump. Pecker revealed that Trump arranged for him to speak with Hicks and former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in 2018, following an interview where Playboy model Karen McDougal detailed her alleged affair with Trump to CNN’s Anderson Cooper. Pecker had previously arranged a “catch and kill” agreement with McDougal to prevent her from speaking about the affair further.
Federal prosecutors have alleged that Hicks was on a call with Trump and his former lawyer Michael Cohen when they learned about adult film star Stormy Daniels seeking to sell her story of an affair with Trump. Hicks testified before Congress in 2019 that she had no knowledge of the Daniels deal at the time it was arranged and denied any involvement in discussions between Cohen and Trump about the payment. It remains uncertain whether Trump will testify in the trial, as he previously indicated he planned to do so.
Hicks was known as one of Trump’s most trusted advisers during her time in the White House, handling damage control for various controversies, including the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. She resigned shortly after testifying before Congress in 2018 but returned briefly in 2020. Trump praised Hicks for her work and described her as smart, thoughtful, and a great person. The charges against Trump in the hush money trial involve falsification of business records related to reimbursements to Cohen for the payments to Daniels, which were labeled as legal expenses. Pecker revealed that American Media, Inc., made payments on Trump’s behalf to McDougal and a doorman who claimed knowledge of a child Trump fathered out of wedlock.
Pecker’s testimony implicated Trump directly in the hush money payments, detailing conversations about the deals and their status. He claimed that shortly after Trump was elected, Trump thanked him for the deals in the presence of newly appointed White House officials, including former FBI Director James Comey. Pecker confirmed prosecutors’ claims of an agreement with Trump to suppress negative stories about him and publish damaging ones about his rivals. Despite pleading not guilty to the charges, Trump has suggested they were politically motivated to harm his chances of winning the election. The trial aims to illustrate how Trump allegedly used hush money schemes to influence the 2020 election results.
