Long-time Trump aide Hope Hicks took the stand as the final witness on Friday, providing compelling testimony that the Trump team was greatly distressed by the Access Hollywood tape and revelations of more mistresses.

• Judge Juan Merchan started Friday’s session by chiding/correcting Donald Trump for saying he cannot testify because of the gag order, saying he’s free to testify.  
• Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal in the DA’s office, is the eighth witness called.  Longstreet authenticates Trump’s social media posts and other publicly-available material.  
• Longstreet confirms videos and social media posts in which Trump claimed all the women making claims about him are lying.  She also verifies a video of Trump’s infamous “locker room talk” video in which he justi-poligi-fies his “grab ‘em by the pussy” statement heard on the Access Hollywood tape.
• Trump’s former pants steamer and personal aide Hope Hicks takes the stand.  She commented that she was nervous.
• A staffer on the 2016 campaign as well as an administration aide, Hicks noted Trump was very involved in the crafting of public statement, meaning Trump was aware of the lies, distortions and slanders his campaign was distributing regarding the women.
• Hicks noted that she learned of the Access Hollywood tape from a call from a Washington Post reporter on October 7th, 2016, as Trump was preparing for a debate against Hillary Clinton two days later
• When told of the tape, according to Hicks, Trump and his team took it as “damaging” to the campaign.  After reading the transcript, Trump initially denied saying it, telling Hicks, “That doesn’t sound like something I would say.”
• On November 4th, days before the 2016 election while Trump was onstage at a campaign rally, Hicks learned about his affair with Karen McDougal from a Wall Street Journal reporter who was confirming details before publishing a story on it.  She contacted Jared Kushner to see if he would pressure the publisher to delay or kill the story, but Kushner said he wouldn’t “be able to reach Rupert [Murdoch].”
• Hicks then turned to Michael Cohen, who drafted a statement denying all allegations and mentioning Bill Clinton.  Hicks also contacted David Pecker, the National Enquirer publisher, to get his input.  This shows that Cohen and Pecker were both intimately involved with the campaign’s operation particularly close to the election.
• Hicks noted a damning statement by Trump:  after the election, Trump mentioned the Daniels’ payoff to Hicks, noting it was a good thing the story didn’t come out before the election.  That shows Trump’s intent was to protect his campaign, and it’s a statement coming from a trusted Trump aide.  
• Hicks breaks down into tears just before the end of direct examination.
• Under cross:  Trump, according to Hicks, told her that Cohen paid Daniels “out of the kindness of his heart.”
• Hicks said that on the day that the McDougal story broke before the election, Trump asked her to make sure newspapers didn’t go to the Mar-a-Lago residence, presumably to spare Melania of finding out about his additional infidelities.  
• Merchan dismissed the jury around 3:30 p.m. ET at the end of Hicks’ testimony.
• After the jury left, Merchan ruled that should Trump testify, prosecutors cannot mention the court’s earlier criminal contempt findings relating to the gag order violations.