Donald Trump has a whole new Hope Hicks problem

We’re now so close to the start of Donald Trump’s first criminal trial that the witness list for the prosecution has already hit the media. Some of these names are Trump allies who would surely rather not be testifying against him. But remember, there’s no Fifth Amendment protection against incriminating your friend. These people only have the option of telling the truth and going free, or lying and going down for perjury, or pretending they can’t remember anything and going down for obstruction.

This brings us to Trump’s longtime former aide Hope Hicks, who is reportedly on the prosecution’s witness list. Her testimony likely won’t be as crucial as that of certain other witnesses such as Michael Cohen. But Hicks was in the room for much of what Trump said and did during this criminal scandal. So the question is, will Hicks risk going to prison for Trump, or will she risk sending Trump to prison?

Legal expert Lisa Rubin has posted a lengthy thread which covers the various other times in which Hope Hicks has been forced to testify about Donald Trump. The bottom line: based on her history, she’s very likely to give up Trump in order to protect herself.

It’s also important to keep in mind that in a trial like this, the prosecution has amassed numerous witnesses who have no love for Trump, and who have already given the prosecution the real story and documentation to corroborate it. So if a Trump-friendly witness like Hope Hicks did try to dishonestly protect Trump, she’d get busted pretty easily. Just ask Allen Weisselberg, who’s just been sentenced to additional prison time for the perjury he committed in Trump’s last trial. At this stage of the game, nobody gets away with such things.