The third week of the hush-money trial of Donald Trump concluded Friday with testimony from former aide Hope Hicks.
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Hicks, former White House communications director under Trump, testified under subpoena Friday as a witness for the prosecution. She was once one of Trump's closest advisers, recalling that she traveled with him "almost every day" during his campaign.
As she took the stand, Hicks commented that she was "really nervous."
The central focus of the prosecution's questioning of Hicks was the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape. Hicks recounted his reaction to learning of the tape through an email from former The Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold.
Hicks said she was very concerned about the tape, though she had only read a transcript of it at the time. She forwarded Fahrenthold's email to others in the Trump campaign, urging that they need to hear the tape.
Need to hear the tape to be sure, deny, deny, deny," Hicks wrote in an email to campaign officials including Kellyanne Conway, Steve Bannon and Jason Miller.
“There was consensus among us all that the tape was damaging and that this was going to be a crisis,” Hicks testified.
Hicks added that Trump downplayed the conversation heard on the tape, first stating that it "didn't sound like something he would say."
“I think he felt like it was pretty standard stuff for two guys chatting with each other,” Hicks said.
Hicks remained on the witness stand following about an hour lunch break.
After the break, the questioning shifted to Trump's alleged affairs with adult film actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. A story about the affairs was published in a November 2016 issue of the Wall Street Journal. She did not recall the exact phrasing of the denial she gave to the Wall Street Journal and said she was reluctant to suggest she phrased the denial verbatim from Trump.