Hope Hicks, a former top aide to Donald Trump, testified on Friday that he told her in the final days of the 2016 presidential election to deny that he had a sexual relationship with porn star Stormy Daniels.
Hicks’ testimony gave jurors an inside look at the campaign’s damage-control efforts when Trump faced multiple accusations of unflattering sexual behavior in the waning weeks of his successful White House campaign.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment made at that time to Daniels, who was threatening to go public with her story of their 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 there was a denial of any kind of relationship,” said Hicks, who served as campaign press secretary.