The trial against former US President Donald Trump is going on.
On Friday, his former adviser Hope Hicks testified.
– I’m very nervous, Hicks said and looked clearly uncomfortable after taking his place in the witness stand, reports CNN.
Hope Hicks has worked with and around Donald Trump for several years.
She joined the Trump Organization in 2014, where she worked under the former president and his daughter Ivanka Trump. The following year, she became press secretary for the Trump campaign before the 2016 election, and after the election win, she worked as an adviser and communications director in the White House, among other things.
During the trial, Hicks answered various questions, including about Trump’s former “fixer” Michael Cohen and about her time as press secretary for the Trump campaign.
Don’t want the newspapers home
According to Hope Hicks’ statement, Trump is said to have been concerned about how his wife Melania Trump would react to the media reporting on his alleged affairs and bribery. The ex-president must therefore have instructed Hicks to keep the information away.
“He wanted to make sure the papers weren’t delivered to their home that morning,” Hicks said during the trial.
According to American media, the hearing must have been difficult at times. Hicks herself expressed anxiety about her testimony, and when asked about her time at the Trump Organization, she reportedly cried and asked for a break.
Trump denies wrongdoing
The trial against Donald Trump concerns accounting violations in New York, where the former president is accused of ordering payments to people who threatened to release sensitive information about him in connection with the 2016 presidential campaign.
The payouts are said to have subsequently been booked as legal expenses, which could be a violation of New York’s strict campaign finance laws and constitute tax crimes.
Trump denies any wrongdoing and has called the prosecution “political persecution”.