The bombshell moments of Hope Hicks' teary testimony: From the 'crisis' over the Access Hollywood tape to Melania and denying Trump's affairs with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal

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

Hope Hicks leaving the Manhattan criminal court after her bombshell testimony on Friday in the Donald Trump hush money case

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 once

In 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

Trump told Hicks to deny Stormy Daniels affair and wanted to hide story from wife Melania

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

Cohen was engaged over damaging reports but also 'inserted' himself in campaign 

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 deal

Hope 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 November 4, 2016 - four days before the presidential election. 

The reporter asked if Trump had an affair with McDougal and whether he or anyone close to him was aware or involved in the contract between her and American Media Inc.

Hicks recalled mentioning the email to Trump before his Ohio rally because she worried she wouldn't have enough time to respond otherwise.

She also forwarded the email to Jared Kushner who knew Rupert Murdoch. 

Donald Trump with Karen McDougal. Hope Hicks testified that she first heard of the alleged affair between the two when a Wall Street Journal reporter reached out on November 16, 2016 just days before the election. Hicks testified about communications with Michael Cohen, David Pecker and Donald Trump as she prepared a response

Hope Hicks seen here with Jared Kushner in September 2020. When the WSJ reporter reached out about the McDougal deal, she also forwarded the email to Kushner because he knew Rupert Murdoch

She also called Michael Cohen because she knew he had a relationship with David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer.

 She said Cohen 'feigned' like he didn't know what she was talking about.

Hicks testified that she also called Pecker about the deal.

'He explained that Karen McDougal was paid for magazine covers and fitness columns and that it was all very legitimate and that was what the contract was for,' Hicks recalled. 

Hicks sent Cohen the draft response to the reporter to Cohen and he told her to say 'These accusations are completely untrue.'

She said she and Trump also had a call directly with Pecker because Trump wanted to hear what Pecker had to say as well. After that call, Trump did not want to use the drafted statement but instead 'he wanted to craft his own statement,' Hicks said. 

Hicks gave the Wall Street Journal a statement denying the affair as 'totally untrue' but during her testimony, Hicks was hesitant to say Trump gave it to her verbatim, saying she doesn't remember. 

Trump was worried about McDougal story's impact on his marriage

During cross-examination, Trump's lawyer asked Hicks whether Trump was concerned about how the Karen McDougal story would affect his home life.

'President Trump really values Mrs. Trump's opinion,' Hicks testified about Melania Trump.

'She doesn't weigh in all the time, but when she does, it's really meaningful to him,' Hicks said. 'He really. really respects what she has to say.'

Hicks said she thought Trump was concerned about Melania Trump's 'perception.' 

Melania Trump at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC in October 2016

The 'damaging' Access Hollywood tape was a 'crisis' for the campaign

Hope Hicks revealed that the media coverage of the Access Hollywood tape 'was intense' and described the next 36 hours after it came out as 'all Trump all the time.'

She first became aware of the tape after receiving an email from a Washington Post reporter seeking comment while she was in her office at Trump Tower in October 2016.

The subject line of the email was 'URGENT WashPost query.'

She sent an email with notes to several senior campaign officials after the request with 'FLAGGING' and the two notes '1) Need to hear the tape, to be sure. 2) Deny, deny, deny.'

Trump was prepping for the debate at the time of the email. 

Hicks recalled Trump being upset when he saw the tape, and Trump claimed it 'didn't sound like something he would say.'

'I had a good sense this was going to be a massive story,' Hicks testified. She remembered being 'a little stunned' watching the tape for the first time. 

A sketch of Trump looking on as Hope Hicks testifies over the Access Hollywood tape

Hope Hicks recalls being 'a little stunned' the first time she watched the Access Hollywood tape.  She testified that the tape was damaging, the campaign was in a crisis and there were concerns about how it would impact women voters

Hicks said there was consensus among the campaign team that the tape was damaging, saying 'this was a crisis.' 

She remembered there were concerns over how it would impact female voters.

Hicks said Trump was involved in the campaign response to the tape. She said 'he always liked to weigh in on responses.'

Her testimony on this gets at the crux of one question in the case - how involved was Trump? It suggests he was very hands.

Hicks also recalled calling Michael Cohen to chase down rumors of another tape after the Access Hollywood tape dropped.  

She testified that ended up not to be the case but it shows Cohen was a person called in the Trump inner circle during a crisis. 

Hicks thought Trump was 'joking' about her becoming campaign press secretary

Early in her testimony, Hope Hicks shed new light on how she ended up at the center of the political universe.

Hope Hicks with Donald Trump while he was still a presidential candidate in June 2016. She remembers thinking it was a joke when he said she would be his campaign press secretary because she had no political experience

Hicks at Trump Tower on November 11, 2016 just days after Trump won the presidential election

Hicks revealed  that she thought it was a joke when the ex-president told her she would be his campaign's press secretary because she didn't have any experience in politics. 

She was spending so much time working on the campaign, it just became that way.

When Trump first said they were going to Iowa, she said 'I didn't really know why' because she was not even familiar with the Iowa caucuses. 

 She recalled the job being a constant flow of incoming questions which she would try to respond to. 

Hicks said it was just her and Trump at the time who she described as 'better than anybody a communications and branding.'