Trump trial: Hope Hicks breaks down crying moments into cross-examination

Hope Hicks, a key witness in former President Donald Trump‘s criminal hush money trial, broke down in tears on the witness stand on Friday, just moments into cross-examination from her former boss’s lawyer.

Hicks, who served as White House communications director and was a key adviser during his 2016 presidential campaign and in the White House, was only asked a few questions by Trump attorney Emil Bove before she began to break down into tears. The court immediately took a break in response to the incident.

Trump, who was largely avoiding looking at Hicks during her testimony, locked eyes on her when she began to cry, according to the New York Times. Some observers in the room speculated whether she felt as if she was betraying the former president.

Hicks’s breakdown resulted in a brief interruption of her cross-examination by Bove. The attorney asked for a short break, and Judge Juan Merchan agreed.

The 12-member jury also stepped out during the break, and Hicks exited the courtroom from a side entrance. The break was only momentary, and as of 3:14 p.m., Hicks was back on the stand and composing herself, taking sips of water.

“Sorry about that,” Hicks said as Bove’s cross-examination resumed shortly after she came back.

Bove used his brief 20-minute questioning to highlight the defense’s belief that Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen was acting as a loose cannon, without the approval from Trump or his campaign, when he paid $130,000 to buy Stormy Daniels’s silence about her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.

But even though Trump claimed he never knew about the payment and has maintained he was only paying Cohen for lawyers fees, Hicks said Trump came to a conclusion that the decision to try and silence the story before the election was wise.

“Mr. Trump’s opinion was that it was better to be dealing with it now and it would’ve been bad to have that story come out before the election,” Hicks said, according to the Associated Press.

Hicks notably testified that Cohen did not participate in any of the Trump Tower meetings with Trump and campaign staff following the release of the infamous Access Hollywood tape and that she believed Cohen may have been traveling out of the country at the time of those discussions. She also poured cold water on the notion that Cohen was Trump’s personal “fixer,” claiming he was only known by that title because he was “fixing things” that he’d broken himself.

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Hicks was dismissed shortly before 4 p.m., and Merchan adjourned the court until the trial resumes next week.

Earlier in the day, Hicks admitted she was “really nervous” as she adjusted the microphone from the witness stand. She also spoke highly of Trump before prosecutors delved into any deeper questions, calling him a “very good multitasker, a very hard worker.”