Why legal experts claim Hope Hicks' heartfelt testimony undermined Donald Trump's 'Melania' defense
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: Former President Donald Trump's legal strategy to leverage the involvement of his spouse, former First Lady Melania Trump, in his hush money trial defense has reportedly encountered a setback as a result of former aide Hope Hicks' testimony.
Per The Blast, legal analysts following the trial have opined that the prosecution could use Hicks' testimony to undermine Trump's defense tactic and potentially influence the jury's verdict in their favor.
Experts claim Hope Hicks' testimony might have damaged credibility of 'Melania Defense'
Donald Trump’s ongoing criminal trial taking place in New York, pertains to the ex-president being charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels as hush money for an alleged affair between the two. Recently, his former White House Communications Director, Hope Hicks, testified in the trial.
Hicks' testimony revealed details of her interactions with her former boss in the aftermath of the alleged affair going public. In addition, Hicks has provided testimony relating to Michael Cohen's involvement in the matter.
Experts have professed that Hicks' testimony could be used to weaken the 77-year-old’s supposed defense strategy of suggesting that concealing the payments was to protect his wife, Melania Trump, from knowledge of the alleged affair.
Civil rights lawyer and activist Janos Marton told Newsweek, "For the jury, the optics of the campaign press secretary being involved at all makes it harder to claim the payoff was related to some personal matter.”
"[The Prosecution] will use Hope Hicks' testimony as further evidence that the Stormy Daniels payment was done to head off what would have been a devastating political scandal days before the 2016 election, complete with emails and texts as evidence," he added.
Experts deem Hope Hicks' evidence credible
The first witness testimony in the hush money criminal trial came last month, from the former National Enquirer publisher, David Pecker, who claimed that he orchestrated a "catch and kill" scheme aided by the real estate magnate’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, to suppress damaging stories against then-Republican presidential candidate Trump.
Nonetheless, legal experts following the case have claimed that Hope Hicks' testimony had greater credibility than Pecker's.
This was attributed to the fact that Hicks, in her capacity as Trump's campaign press secretary leading up to the 2016 general election, had a more direct relationship with the MAGA strongman.
New York University law professor, Stephen Gillers, said, "On one hand, Hicks' testimony duplicates Pecker's, adding only marginal information. However, she is a more powerful witness for the prosecution because, unlike Pecker, she was a senior person in the administration and the 2016 campaign and worked for the Trump Organization.”
According to Gillers, Hicks' past as a Trump loyalist offers the jury a "good reason" to "trust her testimony."
Additionally, he said that although the former aide of the ex-POTUS may not be pleased to be summoned to testify, she is doing so because she would rather not take "a bullet for her former boss."
Melania Trump's reaction to Stormy Daniels news ‘concerned’ Donald Trump
Hope Hicks stated in her testimony that Donald Trump was more anxious about his wife, Melania, learning about the story than the potential effect his alleged affair may have had on his then-presidential bid.
The former Counselor to the POTUS told the court, "He was concerned about how it would be viewed by his wife, and he wanted me to make sure the newspapers weren't delivered to the residence that morning.”
Ever since the hush money trial began, Melania has not appeared in court alongside Donald Trump.
The former FLOTUS reportedly believes the trial is a "disgrace" and silently backs her husband, according to sources.
Donald Trump "really values" what his wife thinks
The ex-Commander-in-Chief "really values" his wife's opinion, according to Hicks, who provided some insight into the intricacies of Trump and Melania's relationship during her testimony.
Hicks responded to a question about why Trump was concerned about Melania's possible reaction to the revelation of his alleged affairs by saying, "[Donald] really values Mrs. Trump's opinion," adding that it's "very meaningful to him, he really respects what she has to say."
She further stated that the former president's focus at the time was to protect his family from "hurt or embarrassment" as a result of his presidential campaign.
In other portions of her testimony, Hicks mentioned that Trump told her that Cohen had paid Daniels hush money out of charity. She did, however, recall thinking Cohen's actions being uncharacteristic at the time.
