Ex-Prosecutor Flags Hope Hicks' Testimony As 'Body Blow' To Trump In Hush Money Trial

Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann weighed in on Hope Hicks’ “devastating” testimony on Friday after the ex-Donald Trump spokesperson broke down in tears during the former president’s hush money trial.

The former president is facing 34 criminal counts for allegedly falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to conceal allegations of an extramarital affair with Stormy Daniels.

The breakdown arrived as defense attorney Emil Bove began cross-examination of Hicks, who had just recalled Trump informing her that his former personal attorney Michael Cohen told him he had paid Daniels “out of the kindness of his own heart.” The move, she said, “would be out of character” for Cohen.

MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell noted that witnesses sometimes surprise themselves “as much as anyone else” when they get emotional before Weissmann revealed that he “didn’t really care” why Hicks was crying but rather cared about the substance of her testimony.

“And I also thought about how her crying was kind of icing on the cake for the D.A.’s office,” Weissmann said.

He continued, “I’m not in any way suggesting that they sought it but her testimony was a body blow to the defense here because she put the guilty knowledge of the hush money payments into Donald Trump’s mouth and she recounted that testimony to the jurors.”

He went on to describe Hicks’ testimony as “devastating” in terms of evidence.

“And there’s no question that her crying would underscore to the jury, in my view, that she was not there because she wanted to help the government, that she had all loyalty for the Trump Organization,” explained Weissmann, who referred to Hicks as a “very, very difficult witness for the defense” to overcome.

H/T: Mediaite

Our 2024