MANHATTAN (CN) — Former Trump White House communications director Hope Hicks recalled on Friday afternoon the Trump campaign’s damage control response to the leak of the now-infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in the month before the 2016 election.
Jurors were not played the “Access Hollywood” tape, but a transcript of its audio was entered into evidence on Friday as part of email sent to Hicks from Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold.
Weeks before the 2016 presidential election, audio of the tape surfaced, where Trump was recorded on a hot mic in 2005 crudely boasting about using his celebrity status to aggressively pursue women.
“I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you've a star they let you do it,” Trump says in tape as the show’s then-host Billy Bush laughs along. “You can do anything,” he continues. “Grab them by the pussy.”
Prosecutors claim Trump, fearful of more bad press after the "Access Hollywood" incident, orchestrated a $130,000 hush-money payment to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels to help his campaign and falsified business records to cover it up.
Hicks testified she was “stunned” when she read a transcript of the tape. “It was definitely concerning and I had a good sense that this was going to be a massive story and sort of dominate the news cycle for the next couple days at least,” she said.
“There were a lot of layers to it that complicated where we trying to go with the campaign and this was kind of pulling us backward from where we trying to go,” she recalled, weighing the potential damage to Trump’s 2016 presidential bid.
She said reporting about the tape dominated the media for the next 36 hours, overshadowing a category-4 hurricane that was set to hit New York City.
Hicks recalled that Trump was in debate prep at Trump Tower when she informed him about the leak of the tape. She testified that members of Trump’s inner circle were present for the debate preparation, including Jason Miller, Kellyanne Conway, Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner, Stephen Miller, maybe Chris Christie.
Hicks read aloud the campaign’s initial response to the video: “This was locker-room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course — not even close,” she read in court. “I apologize if anyone was offended.”
Prosecutors twice played Trump's online video apology posted after the Access Hollywood tape was leaked.
"I’ve never said I’m a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I’m not,” Trump said in the video posted to his Twitter account.
Hicks said she first heard the name of adult film actress Stormy Daniels from an inquiry by a Wall Street Journal reporter who was asking about about other allegations related to model and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal.
Hicks said she asked Kushner about using connections to Wall Street Journal publisher Rupert Murdoch to potentially kill the story.
Prosecutors prompted Hicks to a read a series of Trump’s subsequent denials of other rumored affairs. “Nothing ever happened with any of these women,” Hicks said, reciting a Twitter post. “Totally made up nonsense to steal the election. Nobody has more respect for women than me,” she read aloud.
She testified that just Trump himself and one aide — current Trump campaign adviser Dan Scavino — were responsible from Trump’s posts on Twitter in the fall of 2016.
Hicks testified on direct questioning that Trump asked his team to hide the Wall Street Journal article from his wife Melania.
“He was concerned with how it would be viewed by his wife and he wanted me to makes sure the newspapers weren’t delivered to their residence that morning,” she said.
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