Hope Hicks tests about ‘Access Hollywood’ tape at Trump trial

Hope Hicks, former President Donald Trump’s former press secretary and White House communications director, told the court Friday that she was “very concerned” and “stunned” when she, Trump, and other campaign members found out about the “Access Hollywood” tape featuring controversial comments from Trump.

Asked about the tape by prosecutor Matthew Colangelo, a former attorney with President Biden’s Justice Department, Hicks confirmed that she had heard and seen the clip.

Asked about her reaction to a Washington Post press inquiry sent via email about the comments Trump made in the clip, Hicks said, “I was concerned, very concerned … I was concerned about the contents of the email, concerned about the lack of time to respond, concerned about having a transcript and not a tape.”

Upon being made aware of the clip, Hicks forwarded the email to other campaign leadership, including David Bossie, Jason Miller, Kellyanne Conway, and Steve Bannon. In emails presented in court, she said she needed to hear tape to be sure, and “deny, deny, deny.”

After she sent the email, she found the members of the campaign and spoke with them in person about the email from Trump Tower.

When she convened with members of the campaign about the email she received, Hicks said Trump asked them what they were discussing. She said she verbally shared the email with Trump. At the time, they were trying to get a copy of the audio of the tape to assess the situation further.

Trump, according to Hicks, said the remarks outlined in the email regarding the tape didn’t sound like something that he would say. She also noted that they saw the video within the matter of minutes, but could not recall if it was before or after it was publicly published. Hicks recalled Trump being upset.

Recalling her learning about the tape, Hicks said she was “a little stunned.”

“It’s hard to describe, but yeah, it was definitely concerning. I had a good sense this was going to be a massive story and dominate the news cycle for the next several days at least,” she said Friday.

Adding to that, she called the tape’s revelation “a damaging development” and insisted that it “obviously wasn’t helpful.”

Hicks said Trump felt like the tape wasn’t a good look, but noted it was two guys talking privately and emphasized it was locker room talk that wasn’t meant to upset anyone. Hicks said Trump “always liked to weigh in on responses.” She could not remember who prepared the response to the tape, but assured the court that Trump had input.

The 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape came to light ahead of the 2016 election and showed Trump boasting to host Billy Bush that he could kiss and group women due to his star power.

Judge Juan Merchan previously denied the prosecution from showing the tape to jurors, saying in March, “it is not necessary that the tape itself be introduced into evidence or that it be played for the jury.”

Fox News’ Maria Paronich and Emma Colton contributed to this update.