Alvin Bragg’s Witness Against Trump ‘Backfired Spectacularly’—Legal Analyst

Amid Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s witness against the former president “backfired spectacularly,” according to Fox News legal analyst and commentator Gregg Jarrett.

Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, became the first former president in US history to stand trial in a criminal case last month. Following an investigation by Bragg’s office, Trump was indicted in March 2023 on charges of allegedly falsifying business records relating to hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. Daniels alleges that she had an affair with Trump in 2006, which he has denied. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and said the case against him is politically motivated.

On Friday, Hope Hicks, who served as a senior White House adviser during the Trump administration, took the stand to testify, which saw her crying at one point, on her recollections regarding the accusations. Most notably, she discussed Trump’s reaction to him when a story detailing his alleged affairs with Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal broke.

“I don’t think he wanted anyone in his family to be hurt or embarrassed by what’s happening on the campaign,” Hicks testified. “He wanted them to be proud of him.” She also said that the allegations from McDougal and Daniels were “absolutely” very personal to Trump.

In a Fox News opinion column published Saturday titled, “NY vs. Trump: Bragg’s own witness, Hope Hicks, implodes case against Trump,” Jarrett, a former defense attorney, discussed Hicks’ testimony.

“In an epic miscalculation that backfired spectacularly, prosecutors in the Manhattan hush money trial of Donald Trump called Hope Hicks to the witness stand. The moment cross-examination began, their misbegotten case against the former president began to collapse,” Jarrett wrote.

Jarrett explained Hicks’ testimony, in which she said Trump was concerned about how his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, would react after details about his alleged affair with Daniels and McDougal appeared in the Wall Street Journal Weeks before the 2016 election, “demolishes” Bragg’s argument that the former president paid Daniels for her silence.

“The account by Hicks demolishes District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s primary claim against Trump that he paid porn star Stormy Daniels for her silence with the intent to benefit his campaign and, thereby, influence the election by ‘unlawful means,'” Jarrett wrote. “To the contrary, it nicely corroborates the findings of a federal investigation that no crimes were committed, or campaign finance laws broken because there was another purpose for the non-disclosure agreement that Daniels signed.”

However, prosecutors have continued to suggest the hush money payment was part of an illegal attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential race and not in an effort to save Trump’s marriage.

Newsweek has reached out to Bragg’s office and Trump’s spokesperson via email for comment.

Meanwhile, Hicks also testified how Trump’s team was “concerned” about how the infamous Access Hollywood tape would damage his 2016 election chances. Hicks, who served as director of communications, said it caused a campaign “crisis” due to its content and proximity to the election.

According to former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani, while Trump’s legal team has argued that the charges have nothing to do with the 2016 election, Rahmani previously told Newsweek the state can use Hicks’ testimony to their advantage by making it about the election.

“At the end of the day, Hicks is a woman and is telling the swearers about the Access Hollywood tapes,” he said. “Some other jurors are not going to want to hear about it; some already know. You can tell Trump is getting agitated about that….At a minimum, Hope Hicks is dirtying up Donald Trump.”