Hope Hicks leaves 155 questions unanswered during her testimony about her time in the White House.
What We Know:
- Hope Hicks served as an aide to President Trump during her time in the White House. She was subpoenaed and appeared before the Judiciary Committee Wednesday. During the eight hours she was there, she was asked various questions about her time in the White House, she left 155 unanswered.
- While in the white house, she served as the White House Communications Director for President Trump from August 2017 until March 29, 2018. She was also the Director of Strategic Communications from January to September 2017.
- Hicks was subpoenaed after Robert Mueller‘s report came out. The report described several situations where Trump attempted to derail the Russian interference investigation. Because she worked so closely with Trump, the committee members wanted to know more about these incidents.
- During her testimony, she didn’t answer many questions about working with Trump. Some of the questions asked were, where was her desk located, and could she address some of the actions described in Mueller‘s report. During the testimony, lawyers Michael Purpura and Patrick Philbin said Hicks “may not be compelled to speak about events that occurred during her service as senior advisor to the president.” House Judiciary chairman Jerry Nadler replied, “with all due respect, that is absolute nonsense as a matter of law.”
- Along with her questioning, Hicks was asked to read certain parts of Mueller’s report. She declined to do so. She was asked to read and verify to specific incidents. The first incident was when Trump told Corey Lewondowski to tell Jeff Sessions that if he delivered the statement the president wanted then he would be the “most popular guy in the country.” The second incident was a situation where Hicks started to “throw herself between the reporters and the President” in an effort to start an interview.
- Other questions she refused to answer were about any conversations she had with the president and his efforts to remove the special counsel. However, questions she did answer were, how was the weather on her first day at work, and where she ate lunch. She answered, “cloudy” and “her desk”.
The House plans to take Hicks to court to force her to comply with the subpoena and answer all questions.
