From denying Donald Trump affairs with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal to the ... trends now
Donald Trump's one-time right hand woman Hope Hicks took the stand where she delivered riveting testimony on her experience with the ex-president at the Trump Organization, his wild 2016 campaign and ending up at the center of the political universe in the White House.
Hicks was an ultimate insider in Trump world and appeared in court on Friday having been subpoenaed in the hush money case.
The 35-year-old, who is getting married this summer, gave detailed testimony on working for Trump and at one point even burst into tears.
Hicks was a key figure in handling the 2016 campaign's responses to the Access Hollywood tape as well as damage control over Trump's alleged affairs with Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels.
Hicks first joined the Trump Organization in 2014, where she worked closely with the Trump family. By 2015, Hicks spoke with Trump every day either in person or by phone.
Hope Hicks seen here with Trump at the White House. She first worked for him at the Trump Organization before joining his 2016 campaign. She served in the White House as a top aide but resigned in 2018. She later returned to the Trump White House as he was running for reelection
Hope Hicks with Trump on the campaign trail in October 2020. During her testimony on Friday, Hicks revealed that she has not been in contact with Trump since the summer or fall of 2022
From the Trump organization, Hicks was tapped to join the Trump presidential campaign where she was on the road with the then-candidate and helped address some of the biggest issues of the campaign.
After Trump's victory, Hicks followed Trump to the White House where she served closely with the president as a senior adviser and communications director.
Entering the courtroom on Friday, Hicks said that she was nervous and avoided looking at her former boss as she shared what she knew from her time as his trusted top aide. The pair have not been in contact since 2022.
Here are the biggest revelations of Hicks' testimony:
Trump told Hope Hicks about the Stormy Daniels hush money payment onceIn a response to a question from the prosecutor, Hope Hicks recalled Trump only told her about the hush money payment once.
'I only know about one instance,' Hicks recalled.
She said it was sometime in the middle of February when Trump told her about it after Michael Cohen gave a statement to the New York Times in 2018.
Hicks recalled Trump telling her it was better to deal with the Stormy Daniels story then rather than for it to have come out before the election.
Soon after her revelation, Hicks began to tear up on the stand as cross-examination began and testimony had to be momentarily paused.
A sketch of former Trump aide Hope Hicks testifying during Trump's hush money trial. At one point, she even burst into tears on the stand
Hope Hicks testified that Trump instructed her to deny the Stormy Daniels affair in her 2016 statement.
'What I told the Wall Street Journal is what was told to me,' Hicks told the court.
She also recalled Trump being concerned about his wife Melania seeing the story. He wanted to make sure the newspapers were not delivered to his home that morning.
Before the Stormy Daniels Wall Street Journal story broke, Hope Hicks had heard of the porn star once before because security guys on Trump's plane in 2015 were telling a story about a celebrity golf tournament and participants and her name came up.
However, her name did not come up at that time in regards to a relationship with Trump.
Donald Trump speaking to reporters on Friday before Hope Hicks testified for the first time in the case. According to reporters in the room, he looked on as she spoke at time and closed his eyes during other moments in her testimony
Hicks gave testimony that showed Michael Cohen was looped in and engaged when it came to the damaging stories about Trump.
Not only did the two speak on the phone regarding the McDougal story, but Cohen and Hicks exchanged a series of texts.
Cohen sent her several including 'Call me' 'Any news?' 'Any news???' as the campaign denied the affair in its 2016 response to the Wall Street Journal.
Hicks later texted Cohen about the article saying it would get play because 'the media is the worst but he should just ignore and blow past it.'
Cohen also was texting with Hicks about Stormy Daniels.
However, during cross-examination, Hicks claimed Cohen tried to 'insert himself' and was not supposed to be on the 2016 campaign in any official capacity.
She said Cohen was not looped in on day-to-day campaign strategy, adding that he would go 'rogue' and take actions not authorized by Trump's team.
Hicks engaged with Trump, Cohen and David Pecker over the report on the McDougal affair and dealHope Hicks recalled dealing with Trump, David Pecker and Cohen when the report on Karen McDougal was coming out.
Hope Hicks first heard of Karen McDougal when she was contacted by the Wall Street Journal on
