Trump trial: Hope Hicks faces her ex-boss on 'Access Hollywood' tape, Daniels payment

Longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks described the early days of the Trump campaign's press shop as being staffed by only her and "Mr. Trump, who's better than anybody at communications and branding."

She said he was "very involved" in crafting messaging for the campaign. "He knew what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it and we were all just following his lead."

Hicks testified that Trump was responsible for the campaign's messaging.

"I would say that Mr. Trump was responsible," Hicks said. "He knew what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it, and we were all just following his lead. I think that he deserves the credit for the different messages that the campaign focused on."

"Do you know someone named David Pecker," prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asked.

"Yes," Hicks said, noting that she first met Pecker at an earlier job.

"I reconnected with him at some point as he was a friend of Mr. Trump's," Hicks said. "I knew they were friends."

Hicks said she could not recall attending a meeting between Trump and Pecker at Trump Tower.

"I don't have a recollection of that but it is certainly possible," Hicks said.

Hicks recounted overhearing a phone call between Pecker and Trump where Trump congratulated Pecker for running "a great investigative piece" about Ben Carson's alleged medical malpractice

Hicks recalled another call with Pecker about the National Enquirer's work about Ted Cruz's father's. Jurors heard about this reporting during Pecker's testimony.

"Mr. Trump was just congratulating him on the great reporting," Hicks said. "This is Pulitzer-worthy," Hicks recalled Trump telling Pecker.

Longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks testified that Michael Cohen "was an attorney" for the Trump Organization.

"I know he was involved in a couple of the license deals for some of the hotel projects and maybe some of the entertainment pieces as well, like the Ms. Universe pageant," she said.

Hicks said that Trump began exploring running for president by visiting Iowa in January 2015.

"Mr. Trump said we are going to Iowa, and I really didn't know why," Hicks testified.

"[Trump] eventually made the decision to formalize that with an exploratory committee at first and announced that he was going to run for president in June," Hicks said.

Hicks said that while Trump remarked about making her press secretary, but she didn't take it seriously at first.

"I didn't take it very seriously but eventually I just started spending so much time on the campaign," Hicks said.

Hicks added that Trump was "better than anybody" at communications and marketing.

"I reported to Mr. Trump," Hicks said about her eventual role as press secretary. She said they spoke everyday during the campaign.

Hope Hicks testified that, as the director of communications for the Trump Organization, she initially met with Trump on a weekly basis.

"As we transitioned a few months later into the political work, I met with him more regularly," Hicks said, saying they began to meet daily.

"He's a very good multitasker and a very hard worker. He's always doing many things at once. He might be having a conversation with someone and it will remind him to follow up on something else," Hicks testified about Trump.

Hicks said she directly reported to Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump.

"It's a very big and successful company, but it is really run like a small family business in certain ways," Hicks said.

She testified about the role within the company of Rhona Graff, who testified last week.

"She was crucial to how everything ran on the 26th floor. She had a lot of institutional knowledge about different projects and Mr. Trump's business relationships, network, likes and dislikes in terms of scheduling," Hicks said.

Asked about Trump's relationship with Graff, she said "it was one of mutual respect."

"I'm really nervous," longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks said as prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asked her to move closer to the microphone on the witness stand.

Hicks testified that she joined the Trump Organization in 2014, about four years after she graduated from college. She first worked at a communications firm.

“I was enjoying it so much that I was offered a position at the Trump Organization, and jumped opportunity to join the company full time,” Hicks said.

“Shortly after I joined the Trump Organization, Mr. Trump -- at the time, Mr Trump -- said that he would be exploring a run for president,” she said.

Hicks said that she was subpoenaed to testify. She is paying for her own lawyer.

She testified she was last in communication with Trump in the summer or fall of 2022. She affirmed he is not a client of her own communications consulting company and she has no professional relationship with him