NEW YORK — The second week of testimony in Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal trial gave jurors first-hand accounts of negotiations for payments to two women and how the former president’s 2016 campaign reacted when news of their alleged affairs leaked out anyway.

Hope Hicks, who was press secretary for Trump’s campaign and became a top White House aide, described how the campaign was disrupted by the surprise disclosures of the so-called Access Hollywood tape and news articles revealing Trump’s alleged affairs with adult-film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Trump is accused of falsifying business records to conceal a sex scandal before the 2016 election.

Here are five key takeaways from the trial this week in lower Manhattan:

‘A crisis’

Hicks, who was testifying under a subpoena from prosecutors, described on Friday how she was stunned by the October 2016 release of the Access Hollywood tape — a 2005 hot-mic recording of Trump saying he kisses women without asking and boasting that “stars” can grab women’s genitals without consent.

“This was a crisis,” Hicks said of the tape, adding that it caused an immediate uproar for the campaign and criticism from Trump’s fellow Republicans.

Prosecutors have focused in particular on the Access Hollywood tape as a key motivation for Trump to pay Daniels when she later threatened to go public with her claim about an affair with him on the eve of the election.

Hicks, who said she felt she had Trump’s trust and respect while working for him, broke down in tears at the start of cross-examination, forcing a brief recess in the proceedings. Her testimony is likely to help the government’s case against a man she appears to respect deeply.

Contempt fine

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