Former aide says Trump told her to deny he had affair

Hicks’ testimony gives inside look at damage control efforts by Trump’s campaign team

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Ms Hope Hicks, a former top aide to Donald Trump, testified on May 3 that he told her in the final days of the 2016 US presidential election to deny that he had a sexual relationship with porn star Stormy Daniels.

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

Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges of falsifying business records to cover up a US$130,000 (S$175,400) payment made at that time to Ms Daniels, who was threatening to go public with her story of their 2006 sexual encounter.

Ms Hicks testified that she told Trump four days before the Nov 8, 2016, election that The Wall Street Journal would publish details of Ms Daniels' story.

"He wanted to make sure that there was a denial of any kind of relationship," said Ms Hicks, who served as campaign press secretary.

She said Trump did not want his wife Melania to see the story, which also included allegations that he had an affair with former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Trump has denied having sex with either woman.

"He was concerned about how it would be viewed by his wife, and he wanted me to make sure the newspapers weren't delivered to the residence that morning," Ms Hicks said.