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

Donald Trump's longtime aide Hope Hicks returned to the stand following the lunch break for her ongoing direct examination.

Discussing her response after the Wall Street Journal told them it was about to break the story that National Enquirer parent AMI had paid Karen McDougal to buy her silence about a long-denied affair with Trump. Hicks said she ultimately provided a statement to the Journal that said the allegations were "totally untrue."

"The denial was from Mr. Trump for both women," Hicks testified, referring to both McDougal and Stormy Daniels, who was also mentioned in the Journal story. "I know very clearly that he stated the denials and wanted those included."

Hicks' statement to the Journal said she had no knowledge of the agreement between AMI and McDougal.

When prosecutors pressed Hicks on that portion of the statement, Hicks could not recall if Trump explicitly directed that statement to deny knowledge of the arrangement.

"I don't remember him verbatim saying that, but that was the consensus of the conversations we were all having," Hicks said.

Donald Trump and Hope Hicks made no eye contact when Hicks got off the stand for the lunch break. Hicks looked down at the floor as she passed Trump sitting at the defense table, and he turned to the left to huddle with his attorneys as she went by.

The former president spent a good deal of the morning session looking away while his one-time closest aide testified.

During more than an hour of testimony from Hicks, Trump at times looked straight ahead, looked down at his tie, and closed his eyes. At one point his head rolled down and his chin hit his chest, remaining there for a few moments before it quickly snapped back up straight.

The former president hardly reacted to any of Hicks' testimony, save for when Hicks shared her own personal response to the release of the "Access Hollywood" tape.

"Just a little stunned," Hicks said of her initial reaction, prompting Trump to snap his head and whisper to his attorney, Todd Blanche.

In contrast to many other former Trump aides, Hicks has never spoken about Trump publicly before. The pair were often described as having a father-daughter relationship, with Trump calling her "Hopey".

Longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks said she spoke with National Enquirer publisher Pecker about the Karen McDougal story on Nov. 4, 2016.

"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 said.

Hicks said she spoke with Michael Cohen before calling Pecker.

Hicks said she drafted a statement to respond to the Wall Street Journal, which was about to break the story that National Enquirer parent AMI had paid off McDougal to buy her silence about a long-denied affair with Trump. She then shared the statement with Trump once he returned to his plane.

"When Mr. Trump came on the plane for the rally, I shared it with him as well," Hicks said.

Cohen also made edits and offered feedback to the draft statement, according to an exhibit entered into evidence.

According to Hicks, Trump opted to write his own statement instead.

"He wanted to draft his own statement," Hicks said.

Before he drafted the statement, Hicks and Trump called back Pecker, who repeated the information he told Hicks earlier.

"It included his explanation for this -- that this was a legitimate contract, and that's what they planned to tell the Journal," Hicks said.

Hicks said on the stand that her memory was "very fuzzy at this point," but she said that Trump wanted to make sure the statement denied any relationship with Stormy Daniels, who was also mentioned in the Wall Street Journal article.

"He wanted to know the context and he wanted to make sure that there was a denial of any kind of relationship," Hicks said.

Following this testimony, court broke for lunch. Trump gave a thumbs-up to reporters as he exited the courtroom for the break.

Longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks testified that she first heard the name Stormy Daniels in 2015 when she overheard some of the security on Trump's plane discuss a golf tournament Trump attended.

"Her name came up. She was there was with one of the other participants that Mr. Trump had played with that day," Hicks said.

Hicks said she first learned of Karen McDougal when the Wall Street Journal reached out for comment regarding their AMI payment story on Nov. 4, 2016, as the newspaper was preparing to break the story that National Enquirer parent AMI had paid off Karen McDougal to buy her silence about a long-denied affair with Trump.

Jurors were then shown the email Hicks received on Nov. 4, 2016, from the Wall Street Journal.

Hicks said she received the email ahead of a campaign rally.

"I was sort of dealing with this by myself on the plane while the rally was taking place," Hicks said.

According to Hicks, she notified Trump about the story before the rally began.

"I was worried about not having enough time to respond while he was speaking," Hicks said.

Hicks said she forwarded the email to Jared Kushner in part because he had "a very good relationship with Rupert Murdoch," the owner of the Wall Street Journal.

Hicks said she hoped Kushner could "buy a little extra time to deal with this."

"I think [Kushner] said he wasn't going to be able to reach Murdoch and that we should work on responding and deal with it," Hicks said.

Hicks said she called David Pecker's office as well as Cohen, due to his relationship with Pecker.