President Trump instructed Hope Hicks, 30 , not to answer any questions regarding her time working for the White House. However, she was allowed to discuss her time on the Trump campaign where she did in fact answered questions about that period of time.
Rep. Doug Collins, of Georgia, dismissed the hearing as a “political stunt,” and said the committee learned nothing new from Hicks.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat of Texas, refers to Hicks’ testimony a “building block” in determining the committee’s next steps in its investigation into whether the Trump administration was being uncooperative. According to CBS News, She said that Hicks “reinforced” some of the areas the committee is looking into, alluding to hush money payments coordinated by former Trump fixer Michael Cohen for a woman who claimed she had an affair with Mr. Trump over a decade ago.
Hicks is just “one peg” in the board, Jackson Lee told reporters outside the hearing room, and the committee would also “need to proceed” with former special counsel Robert Mueller and former White House counsel Don McGahn.
The White House had a lawyer present during the hearing to assert executive privilege on some of the information Democrats wanted from Hicks, a Democratic aide said.
Democrats on the committee wanted to press Hicks on the hush money payments President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and key moments during the Russia investigation, a Democratic committee aide told CBS News.
Lawmakers also wanted to ask Hicks about former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s ouster, the president’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey in efforts to thwart special counsel Robert Mueller’s nearly two-year investigation and a meeting at Trump Tower in the summer of 2016 that included Mr. Trump’s son, Donald Trump, Jr., top campaign officials and a Russian lawyer Trump Jr. thought had damaging information about Hillary Clinton, CBS reports.
Hicks was instructed by Counsel Pat Cipolloneno to hand over documents to the committee related to her time in the White House after being subpoena from the Judiciary Committee. Hicks did release documents from her time with the Trump campaign.
Hicks left the White House in March 2018. Before her roles as director of communications and strategic communications, she was the national press secretary for Mr. Trump’s presidential transition team and his top spokeswoman during the 2016 campaign.
Hicks now serves as EVP and Chief Communications Officer at Fox Corporation.
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