Hope Hicks reveals Trump 'really valued' Melania's opinion and feared affair stories would wreck his marriage

Donald Trump’s longtime aide Hope Hicks broke down in tears during rollercoaster testimony where she detailed the ‘crisis’ sparked by the infamous Access Hollywood tape and her own ‘stunned’ reaction at the ‘hush money’ trial on Friday.

Hicks glided into the witness box wearing a black trouser suit and blue blouse and told the jury ‘I’m really nervous’ before describing her work reacting to a scandal they feared would ruin his 2016 presidential run.

The 35-year-old revealed how Trump was ‘concerned’ wife Melania would see articles about the hush money deal, so stopped newspapers being delivered to Trump Tower.

As the Manhattan District Attorney's Office ended their exhaustive questioning, she started to cry and said 'sorry' to the court, overwhelmed by her appearance in front of a man she trusted and admired.

Hicks' appearance came as she is set to walk down the aisle this summer, DailyMail.com can reveal.

She is due to marry Goldman Sachs boss Jim Donovan, 57. 

In court Hicks recalled in vivid detail how, as the campaign press secretary, she walked to the 25th floor of Trump Tower to interrupt debate preparations to hand Trump the transcript of the clip where he made the ‘grab em by the p****’ comments.

An upset Trump insisted he ‘didn’t want to offend anybody’ and felt his crude remarks made were ‘pretty standard stuff for two guys chatting with each other’, she told the jury.

The prosecution guided her through detailed descriptions of her interactions with Trump when he women came forward with lurid allegations.She also revealed that she hasn’t spoken to the former president since the fall of 2022 and is paying for her own lawyer, despite her unflinching loyalty when she worked by his side.

During an appearance on the stand where she barely looked at the defendant, she was questioned about topics ranging from fake National Enquirer stories to her relationship with Ivanka Trump.

Hicks also laughed as she said the campaign response to the clip of Trump saying ‘grab em by the p****’ should be ‘deny, deny, deny’.

She praised her old boss as a savvy political operator who was in the driving seat during the campaign.

'He knew what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it. We were all just following his lead,’ Hicks said.

When asked if he deserves the credit for the different messages that the campaign focused on in terms of the agenda he put forward, she said yes.

She said the fake National Enquirer story about Ben Carson's 'medical malpractice' was worthy of a Pulitzer Prize.

The communications aide was describing calls between Donald Trump and the magazine’s publisher David Pecker.

Hicks said Trump congratulated Pecker on the ‘great reporting’.

She also heard the former president praise Pecker for the story linking Ted Cruz’s father to Lee Harvey Oswald, the gunman who assassinated JFK. 

Hicks was asked about the response to the Access Hollywood tape from Republicans and mentioned then-Speaker Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee.

She described them as people who always felt they needed to 'weigh in.'

Trump smirked at the jab of two of his political enemies.  

Hicks also told the jury that when the Access Hollywood tape came out Trump was ‘worried about how this would be viewed at home’, meaning by his wife Melania.

Trump lawyer Emil Bove asked Hicks what observations she had made of Trump’s relationship with his wife that led her to believe this was causing him stress.

Hicks told the jury: ‘He really values Mrs Trump’s opinion and she doesn’t weigh in all the time but when she does it is really meaningful to him.

‘He really really respects what she has to say.

‘He was concerned about what her perception of this would be. I know that was weighing on him.'

Bove asked: ‘It continued to weigh on him as more allegations were made?’

In a quiet voice, Hicks said: ‘Yes’.

Bove asked why she thought Trump didn’t want the newspapers delivered to his house in November 2016 when the story about Karen McDougal came out.

He said: 'This was hitting home in a very real way? There were parts of this that were very very personal to him?'

Hicks responded: 'Absolutely. I don’t think he wanted anyone in his family to be hurt or embarrassed by anything that was happening on the campaign. He wanted them to be proud of him.'