Former Trump aide Hope Hicks expected to testify in DA Bragg case: Reports

Former Trump aid Hope Hicks is expected to testify in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's prosecution of former President Donald Trump for allegedly falsifying business records, multiple media outlets have reported.

Bragg has charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records over a 2016 payment his then-attorney, Michael Cohen, made to Stormy Daniels. Trump has pleaded not guilty and contends that the case is part of a broader political witch hunt against him. The trial is slated to begin April 15.

Hicks, for her part, was Trump's 2016 campaign press secretary. Her attorney in 2019 said she was unaware of the payment, though an affidavit from an FBI agent who had investigated Cohen suggested she may have been privy to at least some discussion about Daniels's claims to have had a sexual encounter with the then-presidential candidate, per NBC. Trump has denied her claims. 

The trial is expected to also feature testimony from Cohen, whose credibility as a witness may face considerable scrutiny in light of his prior statements under oath in which he admitted to lying to a judge when entering into a plea agreement. Federal Judge Jesse M. Furman in March denied his bid for an early end to probation, citing his statements.

Cohen's claim in Trump's unrelated civil fraud trial, Furman said, "gives rise to two possibilities: one, Cohen committed perjury when he pleaded guilty before Judge Pauley or, two, Cohen committed perjury in his October 2023 testimony."

Reports of Hicks's potential testimony come the same day that Judge Juan Merchan expanded a gag order against Trump to prevent him from discussing his family members and those of Bragg.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.