MICHAEL GRYNBAUM: Hope Hicks reluctantly confronts man she 'totally understands' in court

EDITOR'S NOTE: Michael M. Grynbaum is a media correspondent for The New York Times and writes about the intersection of media, politics and culture.

In the unceasing reality show that is Donald Trump’s life, his Manhattan criminal trial has functioned as something of a reunion episode, where supporting players return to confront the protagonist and relive memorable moments from seasons past. On Friday, the audience in the courtroom tensed when prosecutors announced the next person to testify on their behalf: Hope Hicks.

She was not a surprise witness. But this felt like a very special guest.

Hicks’ role in the Trump Show dates to 2015, when, as a 26-year-old with no political experience, she was plucked from Ivanka Trump’s clothing line to serve as press secretary to what then seemed a quixotic bid for the presidency.

They were an odd pairing from the start. He was the carnival-barker candidate with a penchant for provocation. She was the meticulously dressed, unfailingly polite aide, a former fashion model who developed a nuanced awareness of, and bottomless patience for, her mercurial charge. “She totally understands him,” Paul Manafort, Trump’s one-time campaign manager, said in 2016.

Unlike other aides, she never had a falling out with Trump (or wrote a tell-all memoir), serving as the White House communications director and returning for the final year of his administration. But their closeness took a hit when it emerged in 2022 that she had voiced anger in a text message to a colleague over the fallout on Trump’s staff from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Trump was displeased.

That rift may explain why Hicks, 35, looked visibly uncomfortable as she took the stand Friday morning and, in a notably soft voice, admitted to feeling “nervous.” This, she testified, would be the first time she had spoken in Trump’s presence in nearly two years.

Hicks, who was reared in the buttoned-up community of Greenwich, Connecticut, the daughter and granddaughter of public relations men, has long prized discretion, even amid a White House that could be shockingly indiscreet. It was obvious Friday that her return to the spotlight was not by choice.

In court, where she appeared under subpoena, Hicks made clear that whatever disagreements had passed between them, she retained some fondness for the former president, praising him as “a very hard worker,” “better than everybody at communications and branding,” and referring to him, as she always has, as “Mr. Trump.”

When prosecutors asked about her role in responding to the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, which nearly derailed Trump’s candidacy in the final weeks of the 2016 race, a pained look flashed across her face, and she swallowed hard.

Then, when Trump’s lawyer began his cross-examination, Hicks started to cry.

Her tears were prompted by a series of seemingly innocuous questions about her time working alongside the Trump family, all of which seemed to underline the raw tension that reverberated in the air. Here was a fiercely loyal former aide, whose young life was utterly transformed by her proximity to Trump, now testifying for the prosecution at a trial about hush-money payments to an adult film star, all as a fascinated world looked on.

It must have all seemed a long way from her days before politics, when she still shared an apartment above a dive bar with her sister in Greenwich and commuted to Manhattan for work. At the time, her most prominent public appearance was as a co-star in a children’s television special about golf.

At one point Friday, Hicks left the courtroom to compose herself. When she returned, she dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.

Frequently tailed by the tabloids during her time in the administration, Hicks has managed to stay out of the headlines in recent years. She founded a small communications firm (Shein, a fast-fashion brand, is a client) and splits her time between New York and Washington. She is engaged to be married to an executive at Goldman Sachs.

Her appearance at one of the most scrutinized criminal trials on the planet is likely to end that quiet streak. By the time Hicks finished testifying Friday, The Daily Mail had posted a story about her fiance.

For his part, Trump seemed to appreciate the drama of what was unfolding before him. Although he has appeared to nod off several times throughout the trial, on Friday his eyes were — for awhile, at least — glued on his one-time confidant.

Still, the future of their relationship remained unclear.

Trump glanced at Hicks when she entered the courtroom but did not appear to make eye contact. After she was excused, Trump looked toward his one-time defender, gatekeeper and advocate, smiled tightly and nodded.

She did not look toward him.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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