White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, one of President Trump’s most loyal aides, said Wednesday that she was going to resign.
The news comes a day after Hicks, 29, was interviewed for nine hours by a panel investigating Russia interference in the 2016 election and contact between Trump’s campaign and Russia.
She acknowledged to the House Intelligence Committee that she has occasionally told “white lies” for Trump.
But she said she had not lied about anything relevant to the Russia investigation.
Hicks served as Trump’s one-woman communications shop during his winning campaign and has remained one of his most trusted aides.
Hicks said she had “no words” to express her thanks to the president, who praised her in a statement.
“Hope is outstanding and has done great work for the last three years.
She is as smart and thoughtful as they come, a truly great person,” Trump said.
“I will miss having her by my side but when she approached me about pursuing other opportunities, I totally understood. I am sure we will work together again in the future.”
“I can’t imagine anyone here leaving a bigger hole in the White House than Hope on her departure,” said White House lawyer Ty Cobb.
Hicks, who occupied the desk closest to the Oval Office in the West Wing, has been a central participant in or witness to nearly every milestone and controversy of the Trump campaign and White House.
She began her White House tenure as director of strategic communications — a title that only partly captured her more expansive role as the president’s gatekeeper to the press.
She came under fire recently over her involvement in drafting the White House’s initial defense of Rob Porter, the White House staff secretary who resigned after two of his ex-wives publicly accused him of domestic abuse.
Hicks, who at the time was dating Porter, urged a fierce defense of Porter.
She has also been interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team about her role in crafting a statement about Donald Trump Jr.’s 2016 meeting with Russians, as Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election and potential misdeeds committed by those in the president’s orbit moves ever closer to the Oval Office.
White House officials and outside advisers suggested Hicks’ departure would strengthen chief of staff John Kelly’s control over what has been an oftentimes chaotic West Wing.
In a statement, Kelly said Hicks had become “a trusted adviser and counselor,” but behind the scenes, the pair had occasionally clashed over her more informal role.
Kelly had begrudgingly supported making Hicks communications director after the short-lived tenure of Anthony Scaramucci, in an effort to integrate her role into the rest of the White House’s communications strategy.
With AP