Reuters
Hope Hicks, a former adviser to Donald Trump, testified this Friday that the former president told her in the days before the 2016 presidential election to deny that he had had a sexual relationship with porn star Stormy Daniels.
Hicks' testimony offered jurors a look at the campaign's damage control efforts, as Trump faced multiple allegations of immodest sexual behavior in the final weeks of his successful campaign for the White House.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges that he falsified business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to Daniels, who threatened to make public the story of her 2006 sexual encounter.
Hicks testified that she told Trump four days before the Nov. 8, 2016, election that the Wall Street Journal would publish details of Daniels' story.
“He wanted to make sure that any type of relationship would be denied,” said Hicks, who served as the campaign's press secretary.
She added that Trump did not want his wife Melania to see the story, which also included allegations that he had an affair with former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Trump has denied having had sexual relations with either of them.
“She was worried about how his wife would see it, and she wanted me to make sure the newspapers weren't delivered to the residence that morning,” Hicks said.
Prosecutors in the first criminal trial against a former US president maintain that the payment to Daniels corrupted the election by suppressing news that could have influenced voters when deciding whether to support Republican Trump or Hillary Clinton, then his Democratic rival.
Prosecutors say Trump falsified records to cover up violations of election law and tax law.
Hicks' testimony could help Trump's lawyers argue that he paid Daniels to prevent his wife, and not voters, from learning about the adult film star's allegations.
Hicks briefly cried during her testimony.
Trump, the Republican presidential candidate again this year, sat expressionless at the defendant's table during the testimony of Hicks, the first person who worked for the Trump campaign to appear as a witness in the trial, which is now in its 11th day.
