Europe Россия Внешние малые острова США Китай Объединённые Арабские Эмираты Корея Индия

Donald Trump's former aide and trial witness Hope Hicks, 35, is set to walk down the aisle this summer

6 months ago 24

She's Donald Trump's glamorous former aide turned communications executive but DailyMail.com can reveal that Hope Hicks is soon to acquire a new title: that of Mrs.

The lucky man is none other than Goldman Sachs boss Jim Donovan, 57, whose secret romance with 35-year-old Hicks was revealed  by DailyMail.com in 2020.

Sources have told DailyMail.com that the wedding will take place this summer - but not before Hicks appeared today as a witness at Trump's hush money trial.

On Friday morning, Trump watched intently as his former confidant Hicks was sworn in and took a seat, telling the courtroom, 'I'm really nervous.'

Proceedings in the case, which is over payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels, are expected to continue for at least another month.

Donald Trump's glamorous former aide turned communications executive Hope Hicks is getting married this summer, DailyMail.com can reveal

Hope Hicks, 35, and Jim Donovan, 57, are set to get hitched this summer after their secret romance was revealed in 2020

In 2020, DailyMail.com exposed the secret romance between Trump's former top aide and the Goldman Sachs boss

The pair were first spotted canoodling in D.C. in January 2020. They were seen at salad joint Sweetgreen in March of that year 

Hicks has already been mentioned during testimony with ex-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker telling the jury that he knows her, having met her while she was working for Ivanka Trump and doing public relations for Star magazine.

She then went on to work for Trump as his campaign communications director and then as a White House aide before quitting to work for Fox News in Los Angeles.

The move to the west coast came after a turbulent period in Hicks' love life that included a steamy affair with Trump's first campaign manager, married father-of-four Corey Lewandowski, 50.

Hicks and Lewandowski have never publicly admitted to a relationship but are thought to have had an on-off fling during the 2016 presidential campaign.

According to author Michael Wolff, on one occasion Hicks asked to help Lewandowski after he left the Trump campaign, only for the President to respond: 'Why? You've already done enough for him. You're the best piece of tail he'll ever have.'

In May 2016, the pair were seen having a screaming fight on Park Avenue in New York – although a source later told Page Six that the altercation was due to 'a campaign-related disagreement'.

After Lewandowski, Hicks moved on to another Trump staffer – former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, now 46.

In February 2018, DailyMail.com broke the news of their relationship, with the couple pictured canoodling in the back of a cab in DC.

Porter, then 38, had been living with a willowy blonde political appointee but the pair split around Thanksgiving 2017 after she discovered suggestive text messages between him and Hicks.

Rumors about their relationship began after they were spotted at a DC church on January 7 – praying together despite coming from different religions.

Utah-native Porter is Mormon, while Connecticut-born Hicks is Roman Catholic.

Hicks previously had a steamy affair with Trump's first campaign manager, married father-of-four Corey Lewandowski, 50

After Lewandowski, Hicks moved on to another Trump staffer – former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, now 46. Porter who had a girlfriend when he hooked up with Hicks and  was forced to resign after DailyMail.com revealed his alleged history of domestic abuse 

Unlike Lewandowski and Porter, Donovan had already divorced by the time he met Hicks with his split from physical therapist wife Christi finalized in April 2019 

Massachusetts native Donovan has four children with his ex wife. The family is pictured here together in a photo posted in February 2018. They are members of the Piedmont Fox Hounds Hunt Club in Upperville, Virginia

The relationship continued after both left the White House in spring 2018 following revelations about Porter's alleged record of domestic abuse, with the pair spotted working out together in New York.

But the romance came to an end after Hicks left DC for the West Coast to take up a lucrative job with FOX in Los Angeles.

Hicks mostly put romance on the backburner during her 18-month stint in Hollywood, although Vanity Fair claimed in 2020 that she had had a fling with a producer that foundered over their political differences.

She was also seen spending time with married United Talent Agency boss Jay Sures, 54, but that relationship is understood to have been nothing more than a platonic friendship.

Dad-of-four Donovan entered Hicks' life shortly before her return to DC to rejoin the Trump White House.

The 57-year-old was repeatedly spotted at her Brentwood home in the weeks leading up to her return to the east coast, with DailyMail.com photographing the now-engaged couple enjoying a double date at swanky restaurant Mr Chow and three-hour lunch at celebrity hotspot Nobu.

When Hicks arrived back in DC, she spent the first week ensconced at Donovan's $5,000-a-month apartment in the capital's upscale Georgetown neighborhood, where the couple repeatedly seen venturing out to cafes and their local branch of Sweetgreen.

In 2020, Donovan paid her a visit in LA, turning up on crutches and in a leg brace. He was all smiles with his younger girlfriend as they went for dinner with friends at Mr Chow

Dad-of-four Donovan entered Hicks' life shortly before her return to DC to rejoin the Trump White House 

Like her previous loves, Donovan comes with some baggage, not least his ex-wife Christi, 52, and their four children.

Hicks' new father-in-law could also prove a challenge, given his long-running legal battle with his son that included claiming Donovan had hired a Russian hitman to kill him.

Unlike Lewandowski and Porter, Donovan had already divorced by the time he met Hicks with his split from physical therapist Christi finalized in April 2019.

During their marriage, the pair were known for their philanthropy – even setting up a joint foundation to fund cancer research – from their $4m home in Upperville, Virginia.

Donovan's father, MIT professor John Donovan, dragged him to court in Massachusetts where he claimed his son had hired a Russian hitman to kill him 

Both are also members of the Piedmont Fox Hounds hunt club and were pictured riding to hounds with their children in a photo posted on Christi's Facebook page in February 2018.

Like Hicks herself, both Donovan and Christi are keen on fitness with the latter photographed swimming and the former known to be a keen runner.

But while Christi is every inch the respectable mom who has never commented on Donovan's soon-to-be second wife, his father John, 82, could prove more difficult.

John, a former MIT professor and serial entrepreneur, has been embroiled in a long-running dispute with Donovan and his three siblings over his 68-acre estate in Long Shore, Massachusetts and in 2006, accused his son of hiring a Russian hitman to shoot him.

The following year, John was found to have shot himself in the stomach and of filing a false police report but that didn't prevent John's third wife Linda from taking a restraining order out against Donovan in which she said: 'there is no question in my mind who caused that shooting, and it is James [Donovan]'.

Family relations grew acrimonious after his mother Marylin divorced John in 1980, and after one of his sisters accused their father of molesting her.

Relations soured further when Donovan and his siblings attempted to take control of property put in trust for them by their father.

John went on to accuse Donovan of laundering $180million through unlawful trading of restricted stock but he was cleared by Goldman Sachs after testifying against his father in court in 2006.

In October 2017, the pair returned to court again following the death of Donovan's brother John Jr, this time in a dispute over land he had owned jointly with his father.

Hicks has already been mentioned during testimony with ex-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker (pictured on the stand) telling the jury that he knows her, having met her while she was working for Ivanka Trump and doing public relations for Star magazine  

According to records held by the Suffolk County Probate and Family court, the case was finally closed the following October.

Despite his troubled family life, Donovan's career has proved hugely successful with the 57-year-old instrumental in building up Goldman's private wealth management unit.

One of his clients was Bain Capital, a private equity firm set up by Mitt Romney who later hired Donovan as an adviser during his 2012 presidential campaign.

He later went on to work on Jeb Bush's failed 2016 attempt to become the Republican presidential nominee but was nominated for the number two job at the Treasury by President Trump the following year.

Two months after his nomination, Donovan pulled out citing family concerns. In a statement released at the time, he said: 'I am deeply honored by President Trump's decision to nominate me as Deputy Secretary of the U.S Department of the Treasury.

'However at this time, I want to focus on my family, and I can no longer accept it. I hope to be able to serve this administration in the future and fully support President Trump and Secretary Steven Mnuchin's ongoing work to reform the tax system and the U.S economy.'

Read Entire Article