Hello and welcome to our special, new york versus donald trump. We have breakdowns on this entire riveting week of testimony including fridays emotional moment for longtime trump aid, hope hicks on the stand. This is one of those weeks that showed how prosecutors are proving on this case, putting forward Stormy Daniels. Called to confirm a very damning story that we have heard will come from Michael Cohen. They have done it this way to confirm it from the jury. Then, corroborating all that is what we told you about, the receipt of checks, the contract send then, ending this week with a rearview inside Donald Trumps uppermost senior aide and brain trust, longtime trump eight Hope Hicks Taking The Stand Friday and taking jurors and the rest of us into the secret meeting discussions as the access Hollywood Tape broke as trump and the aides assessed its damage. Hope hicks, you see there with donald trump. That is a coveted post in any campaign, especially in his, someone who is up on this page and on the plane and that is the role she had. This is important testimony, including the deals to silence these women. It matters because this is reliable testimony from a longtime trump loyalist. That is hard for the jury to ignore. It is also, from a person as a witness who has clearly decided to cooperate with these kind of probes, to testify under oath. That is the better course for ms. Hicks. I want to mention that she did not today. We have some context leading up to fridays testimony. She did not in testifying against january 6 and the high stakes probe, you may remember, she cooperated. She discussed what she knew under oath. She talked to investigators. Even discussed her own private text on that day, january 6, when she told others she was so upset. Quote, everything we worked for wiped away. What you see on the screen is the way we experienced different probes. January 6, they had the cameras on and we saw her talking. Under new york law, it is transparent. We have the sketches but we dont have Video Cameras in court. Both times, to be clear, hicks was a key witness. She is cooperating and that itself has led to this reported falling out with trump and now the defense. She said she was nervous today, from the stand. She answered questions confirming she is under subpoena, paying for her own lawyer. In a moment that does matter for jury, hope hicks broke down crying on the stand at one point. She was seen there crying as was reported and discussed. It was, apparently, best we can tell and from the reporters in the room and the wider context that we have, a genuine displays emotion for her as she felt the weight of this motion, though raw pressure about testifying on her longtime boss who literally sat through her entire testimony, watching. Maybe the details were tough for her to share in this manner. Remember, hicks went from eight close aid in the trump business to that campaign as press secretary, a key post for a candidate obsessed with press. While trump has had his famous following up with many different aids, a lot of people do not last through the first year of the administration. For example, she kept his trust and became the white house can negations director. She witnessed every trump scandal. Her testimony this week hurt trump when she said that he had his hand in everything. He was very involved. We were all just following his lead. She discussed the priorities of the campaign and communication. Why does that matter . The point is not whether hes some apprentice style boss or not. It is a much narrower point for the jury. It undercuts one of the trump defenses i have told you about. He is entitled to his defenses but one is i am out of the loop, i am busy, other people are getting this stuff done. This is hope hicks. This is not just nobody. She is saying pretty much the opposite. He was handson. He set the lead and they followed. She also confirmed about what we heard from another witness this week, that rhona graff was crucial. That was corroboration. If the trump attorneys get up and say who is this, who is that, the jury has hope hicks. They have the evidence. They see how senior a position she held and she is the one corroborating this evidence. In another blow to trumps efforts to find some sort of distance from the inquirer, hicks also confirmed with her own Eyewitness Account that she has seen and heard trump talking to the inquirer chief, david pecker , who was a witness earlier. Some congratulating him on a phone call after the tabloid went after then trump rival ben carson. Here is what is interesting about that. At the time, in the room, she knows more than most people but she might have still thought that trump was just working the press like usual. You call the inquirer one day. You call fox the next. Now, however, the jury is hearing this wider testimony and understanding that this is a potential confirmation of how the tablet was carrying out Donald Trumps campaign this is not like calling someone and discussing them doing their independent reporting where you might share ideas or a quote and then see what they report. This was, according to the da, more like him calling someone who was operating publicly, commercially, as an arm of the campaign but doing it the book. That is part of the crime the da is trying to prove along with the Hicks Testimony Being so significant. I will tell you, there is more. Hope hicks also took the jury inside trump world in a very unusual way. In a very private panic moments when the campaign was rocked by the video you see on your screen, the bombshell access Hollywood Tape. Remember, nobody knew this thing existed at the Upper Echelon of the campaign except for maybe donald trump might or might not remember what he said. This is not just any witness as i emphasize. Prosecutors determined hicks was actually the first person to bring the news of this impending Video Bombshell inside the campaign to the Campaign Manager to trump. Again, you and i might remember hope hicks. Part of the jury might not. Not everybody memorizes every aid on every White House Campaign staff. Boy are you going to think she is important if you determine when the Washington Post had this bombshell, the person they went to they knew was a top aide who would get right to trump and the other leaders, was not the Campaign Manager, was not some other friend or family member. They went to hope hicks the Washington Port Reporter contacting hicks with this impending Bombshell Scoop and a deadline for any additional response they wanted to get. She rushed into the Campaign Leadership. There was a palpable panic and she testifies that the initial response was that you need to hear the tape to be sure but, quote, deny, deny, deny. She recounted how candidate trump privately knew this was going to be a massive story, she said. This was a crisis. Now, take that in and say what are we talking about . We are doing Campaign Memories . We are doing one of these documentaries where we go back and look at the old campaign . No. The point is not that hope hicks has fascinating and sometimes never before heard details about that Pivotal Campaign moment, although she does have them. The point is, that she was eyewitness to Donald Trumps apparent motivation, which the prosecutors say, is now part of the criminal intent in what they have indicted as this cover up and campaign ability. Hicks testified that trump saw all of this as chiefly a problem for the campaign. I will redo this key passage. Sometimes the key passages are just someone saying yes or no. Prosecutors said trump was concerned these reports could hurt his standing with voters . Hope hicks says, quote, yes. That is some of the strong testimony the jury heard to end this weekend a lot of folks probably remember where you were when you first heard about this tape and its raw admission of grabbing women by the. You might remember the fallout. Hicks recounting that very intense period, describing to the jury how it dominated coverage, leading up to the next big moment which is the president ial debate. This was back with clinton and trump when a lot of people that trump was already down. This was a body blow like no other. This is legally relevant to whether donald trump was, as his lawyers have suggested, either not involved, did not know what is going on or to the extent he was involved, it was a personal thing or was it a campaign thing. We put together in the context of our reporting, beyond what ms. Hicks said today, some of that explosive period in the campaign homestretch. Donald trumps president ial campaign in turmoil tonight, facing withering political fallout. House Speaker Paul Ryan release this statement, canceling trumps event. I am sickened by what i heard today. Former republican president ial nominee senator john mccain pulled his endorsement. He drops from 41 to 38. On the weekend after everybody has seen the tape, he falls through the floor. That is why they are driving the Republican Party and donald trump off the cliff and into the political abyss. Mitch mcconnell called trumps comments repugnant and unacceptable. You do not recover from this. This election ended. All i can say is i am sorry. Now, it did not end but that was the mood. Republicans did turn on trump in the 2016 homestretch. That kind of reaction might be a little bit politically unrecognizable today. In the last few years we have seen entire crimes and convicted sedition and insurrection dismissed by Republican Party leaders. A reminder of how much i changed once trump did get out from under that October Scandal to go on to win the Electoral College. This all matters in the trial because it speaks to the Campaign Motivations that i keep mentioning to you. Hicks was standing on that point, telling the jury that Republicans Ran Congress or had the nomination of pat cycles and particularly sharply worded statements against trump over this issue, over what he said on the tape and whether that is how he dealt with women. She mentioned, for example, romney, paul ryan, mitch mcconnell. Executors view hicks accounting as key to what they are still trying to prove to the jury, why donald trump would, in october, take such extreme they allege criminal acts in the campaigns waning weeks. He was losing party leaders. His whole campaign was panicked. His own top loyal aides saw the problem. He was losing the narrative. He was losing the press, a lot of the mainstream press. While trump still thought by the way, lets be clear. Politically, this was true. He thought at the time that he did have a narrow path left to the Electoral College and to winning. He also perceived that one more story or allegation that linked up with this tape scandal would certainly do him in, a guy who has all this bluster in public, a guy who never admits to losing and private. According to his own aides, under oath, he is a bit of a different guy. That is why he is affected. When you deal with someone like this, they play different roles. In private, he thought, i am losing for sure and i am toast if one of these stories comes out. That, prosecutors say, is how he and his Campaign Leadership viewed the Story Daniels and Terry Mcdougal story. Hicks confirming the das argument with evidence, with her Eyewitness Testimony that Michael Cohen and the inquirer enquirer had to bury both of those stories and do it as a Campaign Block for trump to keep that open. Hicks asking Michael Cohen to get the tabloid publishers number on november 5. I told you about the receipts. It does not matter what the jury thinks of the two people in this communication or what they are doing. What matters is whether they think people have told the truth and what they have said about what happened matches the other documentation. This is bad news for trump because these texts are in the evidence for the jury and this is a good confirmation that you can get in writing between key people who were both Trump Loyalists at the time, going back to the Tabloid Chief david pecker. Hicks testifying she asked because trump wanted to speak with him and so she connected the two of them. But, she did more than that. She also connected the dots. If this sounds like it is bad and damning evidence against donald trump, it is. I would remind you that just because it sounds bad doesnt mean the story is over or he is guilty. He is legally presumed innocent and they have to use the high bar of the unreasonable doubt for 12 people. So, if they convinced 10 or 11 people that everything you just heard really did happen and it amounts to this crime and it was this cover up, that is not good enough. They need all 12. I say that to say that when we followed this case, as we do in our special, we are not looking at the jump ball. We are not saying is a more likely than not . We are saying whether the da is carrying this burden and how the evidence may play with this a jury. They certainly seem to have moved the ball this week. We have Melissa Murray and Andrew Wiseman as part of our special leading us off. We are back in 90 seconds. Seco. Nothing dims my light like a migraine. With nurtec odt, i found relief. The only Migraine Medication that helps treat and prevent, all in one. To those with migraine, i see you. For the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment of Episodic Migraine in adults. Dont take if allergic to nurtec odt. Allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. Most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. Its time we all shine. Talk to a Healthcare Provider about nurtec odt from pfizer. I was becoming increasingly concerned that we were damaging his legacy. What did the president say in response to what you just described . He said something along the lines of, you know, nobody will care about my legacy if i lose. Trump eight hope hicks, that is what she looks like testifying under oath. That was in a different proceeding where we had cameras, generally six probe in congress. We are now joined by our lawyers for this special, Melissa Murray and andrew weissmann. Andrew, i know both of you watched this closely today. What did you think of ms. Hicks testimony . I think your description of her testimony being a body blow is totally accurate. This, i think, took a sledgehammer to a major defense. Prior to her testimony, a big gap in the das arsenal was, did donald trump know about the payments to Stormy Daniels as Hush Money Payments . The da had conceded he did not sign the actual agreement that Michael Cohen signed and that Stormy Daniels and her lawyers signed but there was a blank with respect to the Signature Block for the president. Also, Michael Cohen had said with respect to the payments he had sent to mr. Davidson, maybe i will have to pay on my own. Donald trump will not pay in advance. There is a lot of concern about how will they link donald trump to the actual Hush Money Payments with respect to Stormy Daniels. David pecker had already given a link with respect to Karen Mcdougal at the doorman but the case is really about the Stormy Daniels payments and her picks, a reluctant witness who tearfully said this is from within the Trump Campaign donald trump told her that he was aware that Michael Cohen had made these Hush Money Payments. He tried to say i only learned after the fact. By the way, it doesnt matter. As long as he learned it and knew it before he was making all of these reimbursement payments, that is good enough. Hope hicks if you reimburse someone for buying you crap, use are still on the hook. Yeah. She also suggested she did not believe Donald Trumps story, that this was something that Michael Cohen did out of the goodness of his heart. She said, that is not who he is and he likes to take credit for things. She also said, i dont believe that story. Her words are substance. It doesnt matter. You will hear from the da. It does not here whether she believes him or not. As long as you now have donald trump knowing about the Hush Money Payments to Stormy Daniels, that is the predicate for the false business records. A major gap that the defense seemed to want to exploit has been completely closed by a witness wh