COMEBACK

Hope Hicks Hasn’t Spoken to Trump in Years. Now She’ll Testify.

She left Trump’s orbit after testifying about Jan. 6, and reappeared in court on Friday.

Hope Hicks, once a key part of Donald Trump’s inner circle, testified on Friday in his criminal trial over alleged falsified business records related to hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels. Hicks and Trump haven’t spoken since 2022, but she could give key details about the decision to cover up the alleged affair with the porn star. Once a star adviser with a desk right outside the Oval Office, Hicks was drawn so deeply into Trump’s orbit that she was privy to every major discussion and decision—and present for every scandal. During her Jan. 6 testimony, she recalled how she was one of the few who dismissed Trump’s belief in widespread election fraud and told him to take the loss and move on. In text messages, she fumed about his decision to incite followers to storm the Capitol. Though she’s distant from the Trumps now, Hicks is far from a reformed never-Trumper. “She wants nothing but the best for Donald Trump and his family,” a friend told The Washington Post.