Trump's closest aide Hope Hicks takes the stand: 5 takeaways from Day 11 of the hush money trial

Former US President Donald Trump’s ex-campaign press secretary and communications director Hope Hicks took the stand in the ongoing hush money trial. On the 11th day of the trial, Hicks sat feet away from her former boss and described the fallout from the damaging Access Hollywood tapes.

During the hearing, she also gave an insight into how Trump’s White House dealt with the stories about the hush money payments made to former porn star Stormy Daniels.

Hicks who looked visibly nervous during the testimony became emotional while narrating the ordeal. Hicks was Trump’s campaign spokesperson during 2016 and was also known as his close confidante.

The former American commander-in-chief pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal the payments made with the intention to kill the damaging stories against him. Here are 5 takeaways from the proceedings;

1) The Access Hollywood tapes

Hicks was working as the press secretary for Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign when she was confronted by the leaking of the highly controversial Access Hollywood tapes. Hicks mentioned that dealing with the fallout from the revelation was an “intense ordeal”.

In the tape, Trump was heard talking about groping women. “When you’re a star, they let you do it, you can do anything,” he was heard saying on the tape.

During her testimony, Hicks said she first learned about the tape when the reporter emailed her for a comment on the matter. “I was concerned,” Hicks testified about her thinking. “I was concerned about the contents of the email. I was concerned about the lack of time to respond. I was concerned we had a transcript without a tape. There was a lot at play," she added.

Hicks eventually forwarded that email to Trump’s staffers including Kellyanne Conway. “FLAGGING,” Hicks wrote in the email, with two notes: “1) Need to hear the tape, to be sure. 2) Deny, deny, deny.”

Hicks also recalled telling Trump about the tapes. “He said that didn’t sound like something he would say,” Hicks testified, noting Trump asked to see the actual tape. However, once he saw the tape, Hicks mentioned that Trump was visibly upset.

“He didn’t want to offend anybody,” Hicks said of Trump. “I think he felt like it was pretty standard stuff for two guys chatting with each other," she added.

2) Hicks suggests Trump was the mastermind of the Stormy Daniels saga

When asked about what Hicks thought about the hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels, Hicks cast doubt on the claims that Cohen had simply paid Daniels out of “selflessness”. “That would be out of character for Michael,” Hicks acknowledged. “I didn’t know him to be an especially selfless person. He was the kind of person to seek credit," she added.

She went on to discredit the Trump team’s contention that the entire hush-money scheme was orchestrated by Cohen and Trump was completely removed from the whole ordeal.

She went on to suggest that the former president had “direct knowledge” about the hush-money scheme. Trump’s lawyer Emil Bove objected twice during this revelation.

3) The ‘Melania defence’

In her testimony, Hicks mentioned that Trump was more concerned about his wife’s reaction to the stories than their impact on his presidential campaign. “He was concerned about how it would be viewed by his wife,” Hicks said while talking about the tapes.

While giving their opening statements, Trump’s team suggested that the main reason why the catch-and-kill scheme to buy Daniels’ story happened was because Trump found it embarrassing for him and for Melania. Hicks supported this chain of arguments.

4) Hicks helped Trump to distance himself from Cohen

During the testimony, Hicks mentioned that Hicks asked Trump to maintain distance from Cohen. She revealed that Cohen had juvenile tendencies and that he often inserted himself into Trump’s 2016 campaign unsolicited.

“He liked to call himself ‘fixer’, or ‘Mr Fix-It’," she said. Hicks also mentioned that Cohen sometimes acted “unilaterally” causing more issues.

Trump faces another gag-order ruling

After Hicks’ testimony was over Justice Merchan fined Trump $9,000 for violating a gag order barring attacks on trial participants, Justice Merchan. The court also warned Trump that if he continues to rant this away he can face a jail sentence as well.

During the hearing, prosecutors presented four more incidents and called Trump’s statements “corrosive.”  Trump’s legal team on the other hand argued that he was merely responding to political attacks. Justice Merchan is yet to rule on these recent allegations.

With inputs from agencies.