Former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks visits Manhattan District Attorney’s office as Trump investigation intensifies

Former White House Director of Public Affairs Hope Hicks visited the Manhattan District Attorney’s office on Monday as prosecutors stepped up their criminal investigation into the former president.

The Daily News spotted Trump’s longtime aide leaving the office with her lawyer around 4:50 p.m. She threw herself into a waiting SUV and refused to answer questions.

Former White House communications director Hope Hicks arrives for a private interview with the House Judiciary Committee at the Capitol in Washington, June 19, 2019.

Hicks is the latest witness to meet with prosecutors as their longtime investigation into Trump gathers momentum. Prosecutors are presenting evidence to a grand jury believed to be focused on the infamous silence payment to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Michael Cohen ended up in federal prison for paying Daniels $130,000. He said Trump referred him and gave him back interest in installments through his bank account and business. Cohen is cooperating and will soon testify before a grand jury.

Adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels attends the 2019 Adult Video News Awards at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on January 26, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The way payback was categorized could have puzzled Trump. In order to charge him with a felony for falsely classifying it to the IRS, the district attorney must find an additional offense – for example, if the payment was made for political reasons, sources told The News. The legal theory on which it will depend is without precedent.

In an affidavit from FBI agent Cohen in the federal case, Hicks was described as being involved in an attempt to bury Daniels’ allegations. At the time, she was a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign. She denied knowing anything about it when she testified before the House Judiciary Committee in 2019.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at the CPAC 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference, Saturday, March 4, 2023, at the National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

It is unclear whether prosecutors called Hicks to testify or intended to do so. Her lawyer, Bob Trout, declined to comment. District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s spokeswoman Danielle Filson did not comment.

When she testified at the trial of her former lawyer Michael Avenatti last year, Daniels said she wouldn’t describe her sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 at a Lake Tahoe golf tournament as romantic.

“I don’t think it’s an affair to be cornered when leaving the closet.”

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