Hope Hicks expected to testify in Trump’s New York hush money trial

What to know about Donald Trump’s New York hush money case

Donald Trump faces a criminal trial over falsifying business records regarding payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.

Former White House spokesperson Hope Hicks is expected to testify in Donald Trump’s upcoming New York hush money trial, according to multiple media reports.

Hicks served as the Trump 2016 presidential campaign press secretary, and later became communications director in the Trump White House. NBC News and CNN both reported on Hicks’ expected testimony, citing a source familiar with the matter.

Hicks may have been present for discussions about paying adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep her story about having an affair with Trump before he was president quiet, according to previously revealed court filings. The documents showed former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who made a $130,000 payment to Daniels, was in touch with Hicks at a time when an FBI agent investigating the matter believed a series of emails, text messages, and phone calls concerned preventing Daniels from going public .

Trump has always denied having an affair with Daniels. The New York criminal case charges him with falsifying business records to cover up reimbursements to Cohen for making the payment to Daniels. The payment was made to prevent Daniels’ story from hurting Trump’s 2016 presidential chances in the run-up to the election, according to prosecutors.

Robert Trout, a lawyer for Hicks, previously denied that she was involved in conversations about hush money payments on Oct. 8, 2016, a day in which Hicks and Cohen spoke several times. Cohen also called media executives that day about buying the rights to Daniels’ story in order to keep it quiet.

Trout declined to comment for this story.

Hicks testified to Congress in 2019 that she wasn’t present for a conversation about Daniels, didn’t witness any discussions about paying women to keep quiet during the 2016 campaign, and didn’t have any “direct knowledge” about whether Trump knew Cohen was paying Daniels during the campaign.

Contributing: Nicholas Wu and Josh Meyer