Hope Hicks Reluctantly Confronts the Man She ‘Totally Understands’ in Court

Mr. Trump was displeased.

That rift may explain why Ms. Hicks, 35, looked visibly uncomfortable as she took the stand Friday morning and, in a notably soft voice, admitted to feeling “nervous.” This, she testified, would be the first time she had spoken in Mr. Trump’s presence in nearly two years.

Ms. Hicks, who was reared in the buttoned-up community of Greenwich, Conn., the daughter and granddaughter of public relations men, has long prized discretion, even amid a White House that could be shockingly indiscreet. It was obvious on Friday that her return to the spotlight was not by choice.

In court, where she appeared under subpoena, Ms. Hicks made clear that whatever disagreements had passed between them, she retained some fondness for the former president, praising him as “a very hard worker,” “better than everybody at communications and branding,” and referring to him, as she always has, as “Mr. Trump.”

When prosecutors asked about her role in responding to the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, which nearly derailed Mr. Trump’s candidacy in the final weeks of the 2016 race, a pained look flashed across her face, and she swallowed hard.

Then, when Mr. Trump’s lawyer began his cross-examination, Ms. Hicks started to cry.

Her tears were prompted by a series of seemingly innocuous questions about her time working alongside the Trump family, all of which seemed to underline the raw tension that reverberated in the air. Here was a fiercely loyal former aide, whose young life was utterly transformed by her proximity to Mr. Trump, now testifying for the prosecution at a trial about hush-money payments to an adult film star, all as a fascinated world looked on.