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Katie Phang

May 3 • 8 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X

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.

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More from @KatiePhang

Katie Phang

@KatiePhang

May 3

Westerhout texted Hicks on 3/20/18 the day McDougal sued AMI and Pecker:

“Hey- the President wants to know if you called David Pecker again?”

Hicks on the Stormy payment: It was the day after Michael told the NYT that he made the payment without Trump’s knowledge and Trump said he spoke to Michael and Michael had paid this woman to protect him from a false allegation and Michael had done it to protect him and had not told him anything about it. I had known Cohen for three and a half years, I didn't know Michael to be an especially charitable person, he is the kind of person who takes credit, Trump thought it was generous of him to do and he appreciated the loyalty.

As soon as Bove gets up to Cross-Examine her, Hicks starts crying so they had to take a quick break to compose herself.

Read 9 tweets

Katie Phang

@KatiePhang

May 3

Hope Hicks has returned to the witness stand.

[Remember: we recess at 3:45 pm today]

Trump's eyes are open.

When Hicks entered the courtroom and walked up to the witness stand, she did NOT look at Trump.

Read 9 tweets

Katie Phang

@KatiePhang

May 3

Now, the prosecution moves to a line of questioning about Karen McDougal:

Q: When did you first hear the name Karen McDougal?”

Hicks: on Nov. 4, 2016, when a WSJ reporter, Michael Rothfeld, contacted her to ask about McDougal and AMI. Stormy was mentioned in that story, and Hicks had “heard of her in one other context.” In November 2015, Trump and some of the guys on the plane were discussing a celebrity golf tournament at which Stormy was present with another attendee.

Hicks testifies that she was on Trump’s plane when she received the WSJ email about McDougal just as they were landing.

Hicks: I forwarded the WSJ email to Jared Kushner to let him know about it and to see if he could speak to the publisher of the WSJ to buy a little extra time. I think he said he wasn’t going to be able to reach Rupert so I called Michael Cohen because he had a relationship with Pecker, and I believe I called Mr. Pecker’s office as well to see if he knew anything about it.

Hicks worked with Cohen to work on a written denial to the WSJ story. Hicks recalled talking with Trump, who wanted to understand what Pecker had told Hicks previously. Trump then had input into the statement that Hicks and Cohen had been working on. It became a denial of the accusations and that we knew nothing about the deal between McDougal and AMI.

Read 4 tweets

Katie Phang

@KatiePhang

May 3

Hope Hicks testifies, under oath, that she does not remember being in the August 2015 meeting (w/Pecker, Trump, and Cohen) and but says it is certainly possible.

She does, however, remember participating in phone calls with them both, including after the National Enquirer published a piece about Ben Carson and “medical malpractice.” Hicks remembers Trump praising the reporting and telling Pecker it was “Pulitzer worthy;” she remembers a similar call after the Enquirer ran a story about Ted Cruz’s father and Lee Harvey Oswald. She remembers Trump praising Pecker for “great reporting.”

Re. the Access Hollywood tape-

Hicks: The afternoon of Oct 2nd, I received a call from the Washington Post asking for comment. I was in my office on the 14th floor of Trump Tower.

She received an email from David Farenthold at WaPo asking for comment about it.

Read 17 tweets

Katie Phang

@KatiePhang

May 3

COLANGELO: Who did you report to as press secretary?
HICKS: I reported to Mr. Trump.

COLANGELO: How often did you speak to him as press secretary?
HICKS: Every day, over the phone and in person.

COLANGELO: How involved was he in media & the press aspects of the campaign?
HICKS: “He was very involved”, he was responsible, he knew what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it and we followed in his lead, the messages focused on the agenda.

HICKS: “WE WERE ALL JUST FOLLOWING HIS LEAD”

Hicks said she would run statements by Trump, especially if they were about him. She traveled with him constantly and others who traveled with him included a social media aide, and a speechwriting aide.

"The core staff was very limited.”

Read 5 tweets