Hope Hicks, former President Trump’s former aide, testifies
(CNN, KYMA/KECY) - Last week, former President Donald Trump's hush money criminal trial saw Hope Hicks, his former campaign press secretary and White House Communication Director, take the stand.
Hope Hicks shared stories of hearing about hush money payments in visibly nervous testimony.
On Friday, Hicks, one of Trump's closest former advisors, took the stand in the New York hush money trial.
"I'm really nervous," she revealed to the court as she began her testimony.
She did have some warm words for her former boss, praising his ability to message.
"He deserves the credit for the different messages that the campaign focused on in terms of the agenda that he put forth," but Hicks never looked at Trump during most of her testimony. Instead, she focused directly on the lawyers asking her questions.
She testified at length about the impact of the Access Hollywood tape on the 2016 Trump campaign and how it "was a crisis."
She was the first person in the campaign to learn of the tape, when she was contacted by a reporter.
"I was concerned," she said.
She also witnessed Trump's reaction to the story. When asked if he was upset, she said, "Yes. Yeah he was."
She also told the jury about conversations she had with former Trump fixer Michael Cohen and Trump when reports of Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels first surfaced in early November 2016, saying Trump "wanted to make sure that there was a denial of any kind of relationship."
In a significant moment for prosecutors, Hicks revealed Trump communicated directly to her about the payment to Daniels.
"I only know about one instance…Sometime in the middle of February…Mr. Trump told me about it," Hicks shared.
And Trump was relieved that the story did not come out before the election.
"It was Mr. Trump's opinion is that 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 revealed.
Hicks appeared nervous throughout her appearance on the stand, and after that key exchange as defense attorneys we're stating their cross examination, Hicks broke down in tears.
"Sorry about that," she said as she returned to the stand.
And when Trump's attorneys had the chance to question her, they got her to confirm that he was worried about his wife Melania's reaction to some of the stories.
"President Trump really values Mrs. Trump's opinion, and she doesn't weigh in all the time, but when she does it's really meaningful to him," Hicks spoke.
On Monday, a new witness will take the stand when court resumes.
Trump White House aides, Trump Organization employees, Daniels and Cohen are all still on deck for prosecutors to call.
