Hope Hicks breaks down in tears while Trump shows no emotion: How nervous aide ... trends now
Hope Hicks did not so much walk to the witness box as glide.
With highlighted curls splayed across her shoulders and her cheek bones picked out dramatically with blusher, she looked every inch the communications professional an confidant that she had once been for Donald Trump.
But the mask slipped under the steady gaze of her former boss as prosecutor Matthew Colangelo introduced himself.
She gave a fragile smile and asked if she is close enough to the microphone. 'I'm really nervous,' she admitted.
Trump twisted his head to watch as the first of the prosecution's major witnesses, one who was at the heart of his 2016 campaign, began giving evidence.
Donald Trump watched intently as his nervous former press secretary Hope Hicks gave evidence in court on Friday. She avoided lookin at him throughout her time on the stand
Trump and Hicks in happier times, seen here outside the Oval Office as they leave for Cleveland, Ohio, on March 29, 2018
If he feared her testimony he gave no sign of it, simply staring intently at the woman who worked her way up through his company, on to his campaign, and then into the White House.
He leaned back in his leather chair, flanked by his lawyers, as he listened to Hicks establish her credentials.
There was no poker faces in the public gallery. A collective gasp circulated when the prosecution announced Hicks as its next witness.
And the importance of her evidence was only underlined by the fact that it was Colangelo, who stepped down from a senior role at the Department of Justice to join the Manhattan District Attorney's office, asking the questions
The weight of the moment seemed to catch Hicks unaware, despite living in the media spotlight for much of her time with Trump.
She gave another watery smile as she adjusted to the sound of her amplified voice. 'Its going to take a second to get used to it,' she added.
It was a reminder that she had had little in the way of a career before being drawn into Trump's orbit as a 26-year-old and is still only 35.
In that time she had become one of Trump's most trusted advisers, elevated to White House director of communications.
The result was a conflicted witness still deeply attached to the defendant and who delivered her evidence with her eyes fixed on the lawyers, unable to look at Trump.
Trump showed little reaction to most of her testimony. He swapped words with his lawyer Todd Blanche and scribbled on a legal pad. He could be seen sucking on throat sweets too
Hicks in the State Dining Room of the White House in 2018 with Press Secretary Sarah Sanders
She spoke warmly of him, his family and her time at his side. She praised his media savvy, people skills and ability
