Matthew Whitaker to Newsmax: Hope Hicks’ Testimony Helped Trump

Hope Hicks’ testimony in former president Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial actually helped his case, former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said on Newsmax Saturday.

“What she said is that these were not campaign-related nondisclosure agreements,” Whitaker told Newsmax’s “Saturday Report.”

“She said these were personal, that the president was concerned about these false allegations getting to his wife, Melania, and he knew that it would upset her.”

Trump is on trial for allegedly falsifying business records in connection with a $130,000 hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels for her claims of a tryst with him in 2006, which he denies.

The payment was made during the final stages of the 2016 presidential campaign, leading to claims that the records were falsified because of the campaign.

“The left and the prosecution on this have it all wrong,” Whitaker said. “They have a bad legal theory followed with bad facts. They’ve had tremendously bad witnesses, including upcoming star witness, Michael Cohen. You know it’s terrible for the legal system, how they’re abusing it, and really terrible for the American people.

Another witness, attorney Keith Davidson, testified earlier in the week that he handles nondisclosure deals all the time, and Whitaker said such actions are “one of the challenges with our current culture and the age of celebrity.”

“As you know, these unfounded accusations can hurt people’s reputations, not just in a campaign, and I think this is to my earlier point, it’s their personal lives,” said Whitaker. “It’s their relationships with their families with their spouses. I think [Davidson’s] testimony actually demonstrated that this had very little to do, if anything to do with the campaign and everything to do with the fact that Donald Trump was a celebrity and very famous and wealthy, and that’s it comes with it.”

Meanwhile, Whitaker said that a mixed-purpose expense does not qualify as a campaign expense, which is “why the Federal Election Commission rejected this case [and] why the Southern District of New York rejected this case.”

Whitaker added that the “novel legal theories” District Attorney Alvin Bragg used in the case, as well as the jury instructions, will be important.

“This is going to be a very important issue on appeal as well,” said Whitaker, adding that the trial Judge Juan Merchan has also proven to be “completely conflicted, completely unfair” to Trump.

Whitaker also said Saturday that it would be an “outrageous matter” if Trump ends up facing jail time over violations of a gag order Merchan enacted in the case prohibiting him from criticizing witnesses and jurors.

“I think a lot on the left think that is a bridge too far, and they think it would tip politically to the advantage of President Trump,” said Whitaker.