At one point, Ms. Hicks broke down in tears on the witness stand on Friday.
Hope Hicks, a one-time Trump administration official, told a Manhattan court on Friday that former President Donald Trump’s ex-attorney Michael Cohen attempted to “insert himself” into the campaign and confirmed a defense lawyer’s comment that he “went rogue” at certain moments.
Under cross-examination, Ms. Hicks testified that Mr. Cohen, a central figure in the case, attempted to get involved in the campaign but “wasn’t supposed to be on the campaign in any official capacity” and wasn’t involved in the campaign’s strategy. Mr. Cohen “liked to call himself a fixer, or Mr. Fix It,” Ms. Hicks said.
“And it was only because he first broke it that he was able to then fix it,” she said after being questioned by Trump attorney Emil Bove. When asked about whether Mr. Cohen “went rogue,” Ms. Hicks confirmed that he did, taking actions that the Trump campaign did not authorize.
The Epoch Times contacted Mr. Cohen’s lawyer for comment but did not receive a reply by press time.
At one point during questioning from a Trump defense attorney about when she started working for the Trump Organization, Ms. Hicks broke down in tears. The judge called a short break before she resumed her testimony.
Ms. Hicks worked for the then-Republican 2016 presidential candidate’s campaign before becoming former President Trump’s aide. She was called to testify on Friday as part of the so-called “hush-money” trial involving the former president.
Prosecutors have claimed that the former president sought to provide the payments to adult film performer Stormy Daniels and former model Karen McDougal to prevent the two from going public about alleged affairs in a bid to boost his 2016 campaign. President Trump has denied Ms. Daniels’s and Ms. McDougal’s allegations and pleaded not guilty.
During her testimony, Ms. Hicks did not disclose during whether Mr. Cohen “went rogue” when he made payments to Ms. Daniels
President Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a payment to Ms. Daniels. Both Ms. Daniels and Mr. Cohen are expected to testify in the trial.
