1 00:00:01,966 --> 00:00:03,966 WILLIAM BRANGHAM: One of former President Trump's most senior aides took the stand 2 00:00:03,966 --> 00:00:08,133 today during his hush money trial in New York. Hope Hicks served as Mr. Trump's 3 00:00:08,133 --> 00:00:13,133 press secretary during the 2016 campaign and was his White House communications director. 4 00:00:15,066 --> 00:00:19,033 On the stand, she detailed how Trump and his inner circle handled the revelations 5 00:00:20,933 --> 00:00:24,133 about alleged extramarital affairs and the payments made to bury those stories. 6 00:00:26,066 --> 00:00:28,600 Andrea Bernstein is covering the former president's legal battles for NPR and 7 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:31,633 was in the courthouse today, and she joins us now. 8 00:00:31,633 --> 00:00:34,366 Andrea, so nice to see you again. 9 00:00:34,366 --> 00:00:37,266 During the prosecution's questioning today, 10 00:00:37,266 --> 00:00:41,933 they delved into what happened in the campaign when that infamous 11 00:00:41,933 --> 00:00:46,900 "Access Hollywood" tape dropped. What did we learn from Hope Hicks about that today? 12 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:52,100 ANDREA BERNSTEIN, NPR Contributor: Right. So she was the person to first hear about that from The Washington Post, 13 00:00:52,100 --> 00:00:56,866 which asked her for a comment on the story they were about to run. And she -- there was an e-mail 14 00:00:58,966 --> 00:01:02,633 shown that she had sent to campaign leadership where she had suggested, deny, deny, deny. 15 00:01:04,500 --> 00:01:07,000 And as she read that on the stand, she sort of laughed, because she realized 16 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:09,900 that they weren't going to be able to do that. And she talked about how she went 17 00:01:09,900 --> 00:01:14,900 upstairs and there was a sort of a campaign brain trust preparing Trump for the debate. 18 00:01:17,233 --> 00:01:19,333 She saw all of them, asked them what they were talking about, and when he learned about the tape, 19 00:01:19,333 --> 00:01:23,633 he said, "Well, that doesn't sound like something that I would say." 20 00:01:23,633 --> 00:01:26,133 But, obviously, it was. 21 00:01:26,133 --> 00:01:30,600 WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And that story is being told to jurors because 22 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:35,600 it helps set the template for how the campaign then had to go into panic mode, 23 00:01:37,266 --> 00:01:41,333 and then Stormy Daniels' story becomes even more fraught for them. 24 00:01:41,333 --> 00:01:44,566 What did we learn from her about that revelation? 25 00:01:44,566 --> 00:01:49,533 ANDREA BERNSTEIN: Right. So the campaign settles on saying that it was locker room talk. And 26 00:01:51,066 --> 00:01:53,066 Trump actually apologized. And there was a video played in the 27 00:01:53,066 --> 00:01:56,866 courtroom of him apologizing. It was actually played twice today. 28 00:01:56,866 --> 00:02:01,266 But over the next two weeks, the end of the campaign, all of these allegations come up, 29 00:02:01,266 --> 00:02:05,466 and then it's the Friday before the election. And The Wall Street Journal sends Hope Hicks an 30 00:02:05,466 --> 00:02:10,466 e-mail about a story it's planning to run about this agreement we have been hearing so much with 31 00:02:12,566 --> 00:02:15,900 Karen McDougal and "The National Enquirer," the former Playboy model, to keep her story quiet. 32 00:02:17,833 --> 00:02:21,200 And they also talk about Stormy Daniels. And what is so interesting is that Hicks 33 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:25,833 goes to three people involved, David Pecker, the former publisher of "The 34 00:02:25,833 --> 00:02:30,066 National Enquirer." Trump, the candidate, and Michael Cohen, 35 00:02:30,066 --> 00:02:33,533 and they all essentially tell her there is nothing to the story. 36 00:02:33,533 --> 00:02:38,500 And so she goes to The Wall Street Journal and she says to them, it is absolutely untrue, 37 00:02:38,500 --> 00:02:43,500 which, of course, is not the case, as jurors heard last week from David Pecker himself. 38 00:02:44,933 --> 00:02:47,100 WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And what did she detail about Cohen's 39 00:02:47,100 --> 00:02:50,400 then subsequent negotiations with Stormy Daniels? 40 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:54,133 ANDREA BERNSTEIN: Well, she didn't know a lot about it, but there was very interesting 41 00:02:54,133 --> 00:02:59,100 testimony about how, when this story actually breaks, Trump is in the White House, and Michael 42 00:03:00,933 --> 00:03:04,300 Cohen -- The Wall Street Journal, the same reporters do another story. 43 00:03:04,300 --> 00:03:09,300 It's now over a year later. They detail everything regarding Stormy Daniels. And 44 00:03:11,233 --> 00:03:15,800 Trump tells her that Michael Cohen did this on his own out of the goodness of 45 00:03:17,700 --> 00:03:20,300 his heart. The prosecution asked, does that sound like the Michael Cohen you 46 00:03:20,300 --> 00:03:25,200 know? And she basically said no. She did not know him to be a charitable person. 47 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:29,733 And she sort of sniffed out the story, but she left the White House not long after, 48 00:03:31,866 --> 00:03:35,466 went to FOX News, before actually coming back to work in the White House for Trump in 2020. 49 00:03:36,966 --> 00:03:38,500 WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And what did the -- what do Trump's legal 50 00:03:38,500 --> 00:03:40,800 team do? How do they handle a witness like her? 51 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:43,766 Because this is someone who's very, very close to the former president. 52 00:03:43,766 --> 00:03:45,733 ANDREA BERNSTEIN: Right. 53 00:03:45,733 --> 00:03:49,266 Her testimony was clear. She seemed to have very good recall about all kinds of 54 00:03:51,533 --> 00:03:56,066 events. It was at the very beginning of her cross-examination, which was brief, 55 00:03:56,066 --> 00:04:01,033 in which the defense was trying to suggest that, well, it was her job to try to influence the 56 00:04:03,233 --> 00:04:06,500 media coverage. That's what campaigns do, that Trump at the time was concerned about Melania. 57 00:04:06,500 --> 00:04:11,500 She talked about Trump telling her to block newspaper delivery at the residence. But at 58 00:04:13,700 --> 00:04:16,900 the very beginning of her testimony, when she was talking about her early work for the Trump 59 00:04:18,866 --> 00:04:22,866 Organization, she became overwhelmed. She started to cry. She had to take a break. 60 00:04:24,100 --> 00:04:28,200 It just seemed a lot for this former aide, 61 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:32,900 extremely loyal, to be testifying at the criminal trial of her former boss. 62 00:04:32,900 --> 00:04:36,166 WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Andrea Bernstein of NPR, thank you so much, as always. 63 00:04:36,166 --> 00:04:37,000 ANDREA BERNSTEIN: Thank you.