‘This was a crisis’: Hicks describes fallout of Access Hollywood tape
Hugo Lowell
Prosecutors elicited from Hope Hicks just how bad the Trump 2016 campaign viewed the Access Hollywood tape, as they tee up their case that after that story broke, the campaign needed to suppress any further negative stories about Trump and women.
“It was a damaging development,” Hicks said.
This was a crisis.
Asked whether Hicks considered if it would be bad with female voters, she replied: In that moment, no. But maybe a couple of hours later, or the next day.
Key events
Hope Hicks said Donald Trump “definitely” considered Twitter as an important part of his campaign.
She testifies that the only people authorized to post on Trump’s Twitter account were Trump and a staffer, who was only allowed to post things that Trump personally approved.
Hope Hicks says she spoke to Michael Cohen on Saturday 8 October. She says she called Cohen to ask him to “take down a rumor I had heard with a contact” she had in the media.
What was that rumor? the prosecution asked. Hicks replied:
That there might be another tape that might be problematic for the campaign.
She explained:
I didn’t want anyone to be blindsided.
She asked Cohen to call this friend of his and ask about the existence of a tape, and then report back as to whether there was a tape and what was on it.
There was no such tape, regardless, but he sort of chased that down for me.
Hope Hicks said the immediate media response to the Access Hollywood tape was “intense”. She says:
We were anticipating a category four hurricane making landfall … No one remembered where it made landfall. It was Trump all the time.
Hope Hicks testifies that she thinks Donald Trump felt like the Access Hollywood tape was “fairly standard stuff from two guys just chatting”.
Trump believed it was “not something to get upset over” and it was “just two guys talking privately”, Hicks says.
‘This was a crisis’: Hicks describes fallout of Access Hollywood tape
Hugo Lowell
Prosecutors elicited from Hope Hicks just how bad the Trump 2016 campaign viewed the Access Hollywood tape, as they tee up their case that after that story broke, the campaign needed to suppress any further negative stories about Trump and women.
“It was a damaging development,” Hicks said.
This was a crisis.
Asked whether Hicks considered if it would be bad with female voters, she replied: In that moment, no. But maybe a couple of hours later, or the next day.
Hicks says she was ‘stunned’ by Access Hollywood tape
Hope Hicks says Donald Trump was upset after the Access Hollywood tape was released.
Hicks says she was “a little stunned” herself. “It was definitely concerning,” she said:
I had a good sense that it was going to be a massive story and make the news cycle for the next several days at least.
Hope Hicks is testifying about her and the campaign’s reaction after the Access Hollywood tape was released.
She says members of the campaign team were prepping for debate when she received the Washington Post email seeking comment in response to the tape. Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Jared Kushner and Jason Miller were among them.
Trump saw “something was afoot” and asked the group what they were discussing, at which point she shared the Washington Post email with him. She said:
We weren’t sure how to respond yet, everyone was still absorbing the shock.
‘URGENT WashPost query’: Hicks describes Access Hollywood tape reaction
Hope Hicks is being questioned about the Access Hollywood tape and the jury is being shown the transcript from the tape.
Asked what her first reaction was to receiving an email from a Washington Post reporter about the tape, she says she was “very concerned” about the contents of the email, and the lack of time to respond.
She says she forwarded the email with the subject line: “URGENT WashPost query” to others in the campaign.
Hope Hicks is now recalling times when she heard Donald Trump on the phone with David Pecker – a tabloid honcho whom prosecutors said plotted with Trump and Michael Cohen to bury stories that could damage his campaign.
Once, after the National Enquirer published a piece on then-Republican rival Ben Carson’s medical malpractice, she overheard Trump “congratulating him on the great reporting.”
Sometimes he would say things like this is Pulitzer worthy.
Hope Hicks testifies that Donald Trump would call David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, to praise him for “great reporting”.
“This is Pullitzer-worthy,” Hicks said Trump would say of the Enquirer.
Hicks testimony describes Trump at center of news about him to control narrative
Hope Hicks’ testimony is putting Donald Trump at the center of news about him – specifically, how he worked actively to control the narrative around him.
This speaks to how Trump would have knowledge of any hush money plot that involved a media strategy.
Prosecutors are trying to show that Trump was involved, and in control, of media during his campaign.
“How frequently did you speak with Mr. Trump as part of your role as press secretary?” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asked. “Every day.”
“Did you speak by telephone?” “Yes.”
“In person?” “Yes.”
Colangelo asked whether Trump was involved? “He was very involved,” Hicks said.
“Who overall was responsible for branding strategy?” Colangelo pressed. “I would say that Mr. Trump was responsible.”
He knew what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it – we were all just following his lead.
He deserves the credit for the different messages that the campaign focused on in terms of the agenda that he put forth.
‘We were all just following his lead’: Hicks says Trump ‘very involved’ in campaign and media responses
Hope Hicks says she reported to Donald Trump directly in her role as press secretary during his campaign.
Asked how often she would speak to Trump during the campaign, Hicks says she spoke with Trump every day by telephone and in person.
The prosecution asked how involved Trump was involved in the media responses during his campaign. Hicks replies: “Very involved”. Asked how involved he was in the overall messaging during the campaign, Trump said:
Mr Trump was responsible for it. He knew what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it and we were all just following his lead. He deserves the credit.