Michael Cohen’s hush money texts and recordings come under the microscope

Hope Hicks said she knew David Pecker as the publisher of AMI and editor of the National Enquirer.

“I was introduced to him through my previous job” at Hiltzik, she said, adding that she eventually reunited with Trump because he was a friend of Trump’s.

Hicks recalled a phone call between Trump and Pecker shortly after the Enquirer published an article about Ben Carson. She said she heard a conversation in which President Trump congratulated Pecker on his “great reporting.”

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Hicks said she first learned about the Access Hollywood tapes after receiving an email from journalist David Farenhold, who was then working for the Washington Post.

She said Farenhold had asked President Trump’s office for comment about the tape but did not know about the recording until she received the email.

Hicks testified that when she started working for Trump during his first campaign in 2015, his media team consisted of just two people.

“It was just me and Mr. Trump,” Hicks said, adding that no one was better at communicating and branding than him.

She said she posted President Trump’s statement before sending it to the press.

“We were all just following his instructions,” she testified.

She went on to say that in the second half of the general election, she added more staff around the office to answer phones and other needs.

Hicks testified that he has not spoken to the former president since the summer or fall of 2022.

She also said she paid her own attorney’s fees and was in court for a subpoena.

When Hope Hicks took to the stage and was asked about her educational background, she answered, “I’m very nervous.”

President Trump appears to be looking straight at her and listening carefully.

Prosecutors called their next witness, Hope Hicks, who worked for Trump’s 2016 campaign and White House. Before she was taken to her room, the defense objected to her becoming a witness. Lawyers are currently meeting with the judge.

After the discussion, Marchand said Hicks would come to court. She will be the ninth witness in the trial.

On cross-examination, Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche asked Longstreet whether he investigated Michael Cohen’s social media as part of his work on Trump’s case.

Longstreet said she checked Cohen’s X account and listened to portions of his Mea Culpa podcast. When Blanche asked if he had listened to the entire podcast, Longstreet replied, “I definitely haven’t,” drawing laughter from the courtroom.

Prosecutors have acknowledged dozens of Mr. Trump’s social media posts, including one in which he implied that he “made up events that never happened” and said, “No one respects women as much as I do.” It also includes a tweet from 2016 in which he said, “No!”

During his argument in court, President Trump wrote on a yellow sticky note and handed it to his lawyer, Todd Blanche.

This was the first time I had seen President Trump do something like this.

Longstreet testified that as part of her job, she checked between 5,000 and 10,000 social media posts about the incident and saved 1,500 of them.

She added that she checks online sources multiple times a day, including news articles and posts on Instagram, Twitter (now known as X) LinkedIn, Facebook, and Truth Social.

She said she takes screenshots of posts, adds them to a folder, and saves each one with a few words to identify it.