Trump learns of the Access Hollywood tape
Return to menuHicks was in her office in Trump Tower on Oct. 7, 2016 — about a month before Election Day — when she received an email from Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold that contained a bombshell: a transcript of what would become known as the “Access Hollywood” tape. In the 2005 recording, which had never been made public, Trump described in extremely lewd terms how he kissed, groped and tried to have sex with women. In her testimony, Hicks describes the moment she learned of the tape.
Hope Hicks: I was concerned about the contents of the email. I was concerned about the lack of time to respond. I was concerned that we had a transcript, but not a tape. ... There was a lot at play.
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Hicks said she then forwarded Fahrenthold’s email to Jason Miller, Kellyanne Conway and Stephen K. Bannon, key members of Trump’s campaign leadership. “Need to hear the tape, one, need to hear the tape to be sure; two, deny, deny, deny,” she wrote in an accompanying message.
Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo asked her about that initial response strategy.
Hicks: It’s a reflex. I, obviously, was a little shocked and not realizing that the entirety of the transcript was in the email. So strategy number two was going to be a little more difficult.
Hicks then went to find key advisers who were gathered on the 25th floor of Trump Tower for a debate prep session in a glass conference room. The impromptu gathering caught Trump’s attention, she said.
Colangelo: Tell the jury what happened next?
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Hicks: You know, I shared the email with Mr. Trump. Sort of verbally, and we were at the time — based on the conversation outside the conference room, trying to get a copy of the audio or the tape to assess the situation further. We weren’t sure how to respond yet. We were kind of just trying to gather more information and everyone was observing the shock of it.
Colangelo: When you say “you shared the content verbally,” did you read Mr. Trump the email you received from Mr. Fahrenthold?
Hicks: I read him the email and I have a vague recollection of starting to read the transcript. And then he finished reading it himself, I believe.
Colangelo: Did you hand him the email for him to read?
End of carouselHicks: Yes, that’s my recollection.
Colangelo: And what, if anything, did he say?
Hicks: He said that that didn’t sound like something he would say.
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Hicks says she and Trump watched the videotape within minutes of that exchange. Colangelo asks if Trump was upset; Hicks answers “yes.”
Colangelo: What was your first reaction when you heard the tape?
Hicks: Just a little stunned. It’s hard to describe. ... Yeah, it was definitely concerning, and I had, you know, a good sense that this was going to be a massive story and sort of dominate the news cycle for the next several days at least.
Colangelo: Were you concerned about the effect it would have on the campaign?
Hicks: Yes, it was a damaging development.
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