Thread by @KatiePhang

Katie's Sidebar: It's all about the timeline.

Hope Hicks, one of Trump's closest aides who was omnipresent during the operative timeframes and events in this case, provides compelling testimony from the witness stand about the impact on the Trump Campaign of the release of the Access Hollywood tape and the WSJ article exposing the Trump affair with Karen McDougal & the payment to her.

Context is key: the Access Hollywood tape is released October 7, 2016. The presidential election was to take place on November 8th. Damn close in time.

Per Hicks, the campaign panics. The "consensus" in the Trump campaign was "the tape was devastating and this was a crisis."

Hicks testified that the media response was "intense, it dominated coverage for I would say the 36 hours leading up to the debate.” The Access Hollywood tape release even pushed coverage of a Category 4 hurricane out of the news.

Congressional response was harsh and top GOP members were trying to distance themselves from Trump. They were condemning Trump for it. The RNC even withdrew its support for his campaign because of the Access Hollywood tape.

Hicks testifies that in and around this Access Hollywood tape release in October 2016, more reports come out about Trump and his treatment of women.

COLANGELO: Mr. Trump was concerned these reports could hurt his standing with voters?
HICKS: Yes.

The Trump Campaign knows that the AH tape and these negative stories are all damaging to his chances in the election.

Then, just a few weeks later on November 4th - just 4 days before the election - what becomes public?

The WSJ article about Karen McDougal, AMI's payment to her to silence her, and McDougal's affair with Trump when he was married to Melania.

The Trump Campaign starts scrambling to craft a response to this news, including trying to use Jared Kushner's "influence" to buy time to deal with this latest crisis.

So, why is the timeline so important?

Think about how BAD it would have been for the Trump Campaign if the news came out that Trump had an affair with a porn star? Of course Trump didn't want that out for public consumption.

So, between the leak of the Access Hollywood tape and the election, Trump would do what he needed to do to keep Stormy Daniels silent. He also would make sure that Dino the Doorman was kept quiet. And he did the same re. Karen McDougal.

Motive and intent are important here. And having damning evidence from someone like Hope Hicks, who isn't voluntarily testifying and clearly is still fond of Trump, just buttresses the Prosecution's case that Trump did it all for the Campaign. We haven't heard a nanosecond of evidence that the pay-offs were done to help protect Trump's wife, kids, etc.

Trump didn't care about them. He cared about the impact of all of this sordid news on his campaign.