'Don’t ruin Hope': 'Frustrated and angry' Hicks 'reemerges' for Trump hush money trial

03 May 2024

Justice Juan Merchan was hoping that former President Donald Trump's hush money/falsifying business records trial would move along at a brisk pace, and he is getting his wish. The trial has already included extensive testimony from former National Enquirer Publisher David Pecker, and other witnesses who are expected to testify include Michael Cohen (Trump's former personal attorney and fixer), adult film star Stormy Daniels, former Playboy model Karen McDougal and former Trump White House advisor Hope Hicks.

In an in-depth article published on May 3, the Washington Post's Ashley Parker offers an abundance of reasons why Hicks' testimony is so important to the case — which is being prosecuted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.'s office. Trump is facing three other criminal indictments as well, but Bragg's case is the first to go to trial.

Hicks, Parker reports, is "expected to be pressed on her knowledge of a deal between the National Enquirer and Trump allies to bury unflattering stories about him during the 2016 campaign."

After working in public relations for the Trump Organization, Hicks, now 35, became a press secretary for Trump's 2016 campaign and served as White House communications director for the Trump Administration in 2017 and 2018. Hicks, according to Parker, hasn't spoken to Trump since late 2022 — and now, she "reemerges" at this trial.

Parker explains, "Former Trump officials said Hicks gained the complete trust of Trump and his family. But being in Trump's inner circle came with risks, inextricably binding her to the former president, his chaos and his controversies."

In 2016, Donald Trump Jr., according to a Post source, privately said, "I hope we don't ruin Hope."

While she emerged from the (Trump) Administration legally unscathed and with her reputation largely intact," Parker notes, "Hicks was also present for nearly every scandal that caught the scrutiny of special counsels, U.S. attorneys, congressional committees, grand juries and federal prosecutors."

According to Parker, Post sources "said she is frustrated and angry about being called to testify" at Trump's trial."

A former Trump Administration official, interviewed on condition of anonymity, told the Post, "This feels like something she's being forced to do. She still has warm feelings toward the president and a lot of admiration for him."

Read the full Washington Post article at this link (subscription required).

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