Former Trump aide tells his ‘hush money’ trial he told her to deny he had affair with porn star

Hope Hicks is the first person who worked for ex-US president’s campaign to appear as a witness

Former US president Donald Trump attends his trial for allegedly covering up hush-money payments linked to extramarital affairs at Manhattan Criminal Court yesterday. Photo: Reuters

Jack Queen, Brendan Pierson and Andy Sullivan

Hope Hicks, a former top aide to Donald Trump, testified yesterday 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.

Ms Hicks’s testimony gave jurors an inside look at the campaign’s damage-control efforts when Mr Trump faced multiple accusations of unflattering sexual behaviour in the waning weeks of his successful White House campaign.