Ex-President Donald Trump’s (middle) former press secretary Hope Hicks (right) testified that he was ‘concerned’ about how his wife Melania Trump (left) would view the hush money story (Pictures: AP/Getty Images)
Ex-President Donald Trump was reportedly ‘concerned’ about how his wife Melania Trump would view an infamous tape of him bragging about groping women.
Trump worried about how Melania would react to the public release of an ‘Access Hollywood’ TV show recording in which he boasted about grabbing women’s genitals, testified his former press secretary Hope Hicks.
‘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,’ said Hicks on the witness stand for his hush money trial on Friday afternoon.
‘He really, really respects what she has to say. I think he was just concerned of what her perception of this would be.’
A courtroom sketch of Hope Hicks, a former top aide to former President Donald Trump, testifying during his criminal trial before Justice Juan Merchan on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 (Picture: Reuters)
Trump was apparently also uneasy about how Melania would take news of a hush payment his former personal lawyer made to porn star Stormy Daniels to silence her on an alleged sexual affair. The Wall Street Journal broke the hush money story in January 2018, as Trump campaigned for president.
‘He was concerned about how it would be viewed by his wife,’ Hicks said, ‘And he wanted me to make sure the newspapers weren’t delivered to the residence that morning.’
Hicks, who also served as White House communications director, was asked by the defense team if the hush money story weighed heavily on Trump.
‘Absolutely I don’t think he wanted anyone in his family to be hurt or embarrassed by anything that was happening on the campaign,’ Hicks said. ‘He wanted them to be proud of him.’
Former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at the ends of Friday’s proceedings in his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court (Picture: EPA)
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records linked to the $130,000 payment to Daniels in 2016.
Hicks testified for nearly three hours, and at one point broke down in tears while defense attorney Emil Bove cross-examined her.
She detailed the ‘crisis’ response that Trump’s team had to the tape release as well as Trump’s involvement in responding to media.
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