Hope Hicks didn’t so much walk to the witness stand as hover.
With highlighted curls flaring to her shoulders and her cheekbones dramatically highlighted by blush, she looked every bit the communications professional and confidante she had once been to Donald Trump.
But the mask slipped under the constant gaze of his former boss as prosecutor Matthew Colangelo introduced himself.
She smiled brittlely and asked if she was close enough to the microphone. “I’m really nervous,” she admitted.
Trump turned his head to see the first of the prosecution’s key witnesses, the one central to his 2016 campaign, begin to testify.
Hope Hicks (photo from February 27, 2018) took the stage Friday and delivered a captivating testimony about her experience with the ex-president of the Trump Organization, his wild 2016 campaign and his end at the center of the political universe in the White House.
Hicks leaves Manhattan criminal court after explosive testimony Friday in Donald Trump silence case
She broke down at the end of her testimony and the judge called a brief recess.
Trump and Hicks in happier times, seen here outside the Oval Office as they leave for Cleveland, Ohio, March 29, 2018.
If he feared her testimony, he gave no sign of it, just staring intently at the woman who had risen through the ranks of his company, his campaign, and then the White House.
He leaned back in his leather chair, flanked by his lawyers, as he listened to Hicks establish his credentials.
There were no poker faces in the public gallery. A collective gasp went around when the prosecution announced Hicks as the next witness.
And the importance of his testimony was only underscored by the fact that it was Colangelo, who left a senior position at the Justice Department to join the Manhattan district attorney’s office, who asked the questions .
The weight of the moment seemed to take Hicks by surprise, even though she lived in the media spotlight for much of her time with Trump.
She gave another watery smile as she adjusted to the sound of his amplified voice. “It’s going to take a second to get used to it,” she added.
It reminds her that she had little career before being drawn into Trump’s orbit at the age of 26 and is still only 35.
By that time, she had become one of Trump’s most trusted advisers, elevated to the rank of White House communications director.
The result was a contradictory witness, still deeply attached to the accused and who delivered his testimony with his eyes fixed on the lawyers, unable to look at Trump.
Donald Trump watched intently as his former press secretary, Hope Hicks, testified in court Friday. She avoided looking at him throughout her time on the stand.
Trump showed little reaction to most of his testimony. He exchanged words with his attorney Todd Blanche and scribbled on a notepad. He could also be seen sucking on throat candy.
Hicks in the State Dining Room of the White House in 2018 with Press Secretary Sarah Sanders
She spoke warmly of him, his family and the time spent with him. She praised his media savvy, people skills and ability to multitask, before questions turned to the more delicate matters of Playboy models, infidelities and hush money payments.
“He’s always doing multiple things at once,” she said.
While she fidgeted and gave a nervous sip, Trump gave no sign of heat. He sat with his eyes half-closed, looking unimpressed.
If anyone knows where the bodies are buried, it’s Hicks. As a guard, she had a front-row seat to scandal after scandal.
On the stand, she was loyal, speaking fondly of the former president’s family and the time she spent at his side.
They are no longer close.
She admitted they hadn’t spoken in two years, the result of a rift when some of her messages were published during an investigation into her efforts to cling to power after losing the 2020 election .
She left the White House six days after the January 6 riots, in what she said was a long-planned move; but her messages suggested she was furious with her boss.
Press secretary Margo Martin (far right) and legal advisor Boris Epshteyn (center) accompanied Trump to court on Friday. Campaign advisor Jason Miller is masked by court officers
The trial is taking place in Manhattan Criminal Court and is expected to last until June.
But Trump was more animated at times.
He whispered to his lawyer Todd Blanche, scribbled on a legal pad, and clawed at his throat, searching for evidence that he was stuck in a boring business meeting.
He adopted an indifferent demeanor when the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape surfaced, in which he made lewd comments.
Hicks described how the usual suspects in President Paul Ryan and 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney had expressed outrage — people, she said, who always felt the need to “weigh in.”
Trump smiled at the mention of his Republican enemies, shaking his head from side to side.
Despite his obvious nervousness, Hicks delivered his testimony with clear and concise answers. She described the campaign’s damage control efforts amid a multitude of allegations of unflattering sexual behavior with a remarkable degree of memorability.
Hicks, 35, and Jim Donovan, 57, are set to tie the knot this summer after their secret romance was revealed in 2020
For six years, Hicks was never far from Trump, whether on the campaign trail or in the White House.
It was a privileged account of events that could help convict the former president. The prosecution will seize on what she said about fixer Michael Cohen and how he was unlikely to have acted alone when he paid silence money.
And they will also use his words to show that Trump was intent on trying to silence women like Stormy Daniels because they might hurt his election chances rather than protect his family.
“I think Mr. Trump’s view was that it was better to deal with it now, and it would have been bad for this story to have been made public before the election,” she said.
In the end, it was too much for a tearful Hicks. She looked exhausted, worn out.
As the defense began their cross-examination, she asked for a moment to collect herself, turning away from the court and letting her hair fall in her face.
“I’m sorry,” she said amid sobs as the judge asked for a break.
Then, when the day was over, she strode briskly out of the courtroom, keeping her head turned away from the man she had served for six years.
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