During her testimony, Trump’s defense seemed to take a hit when Hope Hicks testified that Trump’s hush payments were viewed through the prism of the campaign.
Don’t miss Sarah Jones’ article on Kristi Noem, “Predatory Is the Top of the Daily News.”
Hicks testified:
Schick discussed the story with Trump. She said he was concerned about it. Worried about how his wife would take it.
Has he talked about how this will affect the campaign? It’s all about the campaign. “How was the game?” was the question he kept asking.
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) May 3, 2024
Trump’s defense rested on the idea that he paid the hush money to protect his family from knowing things about him, but Hicks was another witness who testified that Donald Trump had always cared about the campaign. To be fair, Trump didn’t want his wife to know about it, but there’s no testimony that Trump paid the hush money for any reason other than the campaign.
However, during cross-examination, Trump’s legal team tried to make it appear that Hicks had nothing to do with the case:
Boff finally asked whether she, who worked in the White House, had anything to do with business records in a building 200 miles away in New York City.
Her answer is of course no.
The defense wanted to make it seem like she had nothing to do with the specific details of the case.
— Jose Pagliery (@Jose_Pagliery) May 3, 2024
One can never know how a witness will be interpreted by a jury or what jurors were thinking, but Hicks was another witness who was emotionally attached to Trump and did not sound hostile to him, undermining the former The president’s claim that the trial was unfair.
The Manhattan trial doesn’t seem like one of those cases that produces the kind of epiphany moment that determines the outcome in a courtroom drama. The likelihood of Trump being convicted depends on how well prosecutors can and understandably prove that Donald Trump committed a crime.
So far, there is no conclusive evidence that Trump is innocent, and Hope Hicks has done nothing to change that with her testimony.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a member of the White House press corps and a congressional reporter for PoliticusUSA. Jason holds a BA in Political Science. His graduate work focuses on public policy, particularly social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of Society of Professional Journalists and American Political Science Association
