Hope Hicks, a former top aide to Donald Trump, wept on the witness stand Friday after dramatic testimony about the 2016 campaign’s panic over explosive stories detailing the former president’s alleged extramarital affairs.

Hicks recounted Trump’s adamant denial of a sexual encounter with Stormy Daniels, the adult-film star who got a $130,000 payment in 2016 that’s at the center of the first criminal case against a former president. New York prosecutors say Trump falsified business records to cover up his repayment to Michael Cohen, his former lawyer, who had transferred the money to Daniels.

A key part of the prosecution’s case is that Trump sought to conceal the Daniels payment to protect his chances in the 2016 election. Hicks, 35, appeared to confirm that premise when prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asked her about a conversation she had with Trump after the Daniels story surfaced in January 2018.

“In Mr. Trump’s opinion, it was better to have the story come out and be dealing with it now than to have that story come out before the election,” said Hicks, who was the 2016 campaign press secretary and later White House communications director.

Trump attorney Emil Bove began his cross examination and started to ask her about working at the Trump Organization before the campaign. He didn’t get far. Hicks turned away from the jury and began to weep.

Justice Juan Merchan called for a break, excusing Hicks. She left the room, as did the jury. When she returned, Hicks had regained her composure.

In the seventh day of testimony at the hush-money trial, Hicks gave jurors an inside account about how the campaign struggled to deal with the crisis that erupted when the infamous Access Hollywood tape came out weeks before the 2016 election. On that tape, made in 2005, Trump made vulgar comments about sexually assaulting women.

Hicks, who was testifying under a subpoena from prosecutors, said she was “just a little stunned” and could see “this was going to be a massive story” that would dominate the news. Hicks also testified how the campaign scrambled to contain the fallout from other stories.

Hicks said the Access Hollywood story broke as Trump prepared for his debate with Hillary Clinton. Jurors saw an email she wrote in which she suggested an immediate response of “deny, deny, deny.” She also wrote: “Need the tape to be sure.”

She said a group including former Trump aides Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway and Stephen Miller huddled to formulate a response.

“We weren’t sure how to respond,” Hicks said. “We were gathering more information. Everyone was absorbing the shock of it.”

Hicks said she had a “vague recollection” of Trump saying: “It didn’t sound like something he would say.” Trump also “didn’t think it was too good, but Mr. Trump said it was just two guys talking privately, locker room talk.”

In a video statement, Trump said: “I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize.” But he proceeded to attack former President Bill Clinton for treating women worse.

Trump’s lawyer Bove asked her opinion about Cohen, a frequent critic of Trump who will be the prosecution’s star witness.

“There were times that he did things that were frustrating to the campaign staff?” Bove asked. Hicks agreed.

“Times when he went rogue?” Bove asked.

Not Especially Charitable

“Yes,” Hicks said. “There were times he liked to call himself a fixer or Mr. Fixit, but it was only because he first broke it.”

She said Trump told her that Cohen paid Daniels “to protect him” adding “he did it out of the kindness of his own heart and never told anybody about it.”

“I didn’t know Michael to be an especially charitable person or a selfless person,” she said.