New witness to testify in hush money case

NEW YORK — The twelfth day of Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial will see a new witness take the stand after dramatic testimony from former top Trump aide Hope Hicks, who began crying as she testified on Friday.

Before that breakdown, Hicks described her initial advice to the 2016 Trump campaign — “Deny, deny, deny” – when a reporter first reached out for comment about the infamous Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump boasted that he kissed women without waiting and grabbed their genitals.

It would have been hard for Hicks to deny that response: jurors saw it in an email she sent shortly after being contacted about the tape. Hicks also testified that Trump’s electoral standing with women was a concern for the campaign at the time Michael Cohen paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump. Trump denies Daniels’ claim that they had sex in 2006.

Keep up with USA TODAY’s live updates from inside and outside the Manhattan courtroom:

Trump Media auditor fined $12 million for ‘massive fraud’: SEC

The accountants for Donald Trump’s media company Truth Social were charged with “massive fraud” and fined millions of dollars, but Trump’s company wasn’t charged with wrongdoing, the Securities and Exchange Commission said.

BF Borgers and its owner, Benjamin Borgers, were charged with fraud that affected 1,500 SEC filings, including those of Trump Media, the SEC said. The company agreed to pay a $12 million civil penalty and Borgers agreed to pay $2 million, and both agreed to stop auditing.

Borgers didn’t properly prepare or maintain audit documentation, fabricated audit planning meetings and sometimes passed off previous audits for current ones, the SEC said.

“Trump Media looks forward to working with new auditing partners,” the company announced in a statement.

–Bart Jansen

Hicks’ emotional breakdown Friday happened soon after Trump lawyer Emil Bove began to ask her introductory questions. It wasn’t clear what caused her emotions. It could have been facing questioning by the lawyer for her former boss, who could be imprisoned if convicted. It could also have been that something in the prosecution’s earlier questions and her responses was sinking in.

Just before Bove started his cross-examination, Hicks said in response to a prosecutor’s question that Trump has asked her how a post-2016 election story about Michael Cohen’s payment to Stormy Daniels “was playing.”

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

That is significant testimony for the prosecution, which is arguing that Trump committed felonies when he allegedly falsified business records because the purpose of the falsification was to cover up violating campaign finance laws through the $130,000 hush money payment. Trump may argue the payment wasn’t about the election at all, but was instead designed to shield his family from an embarrassing story.

– Aysha Bagchi

Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Prosecutors allege he was covering up unlawfully interfering in the 2016 presidential election through a $130,000 hush money payment from his then-lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, to porn star Stormy Daniels. Daniels says the two had sex shortly after Melania Trump gave birth to Barron Trump, a claim the former president denies.

– Aysha Bagchi