Earlier this month, the House Judiciary Committee requested that former White House communications director Hope Hicks turn over documents as part of the committee’s investigation into a potential obstruction of justice charge against the president. According to a report from CNN, Hicks will agree to hand over “any personal or work diary, journal or other book containing notes, a record or a description of daily events.”
Though it’s unclear how extensive Hicks’s note-taking habits were during her year-and-change as White House communications director, it’s possible that the confidante of President Trump may have some enlightening details to share with the House. Hicks, who initially entered the Trump orbit doing PR for Ivanka’s clothing line, quickly shot up through the ranks due to a combination of ambition and loyalty, becoming a close adviser to Donald Trump by her late 20s. In a profile from last year, New York’s Olivia Nuzzi described Hicks as a counterbalance to the president:
Hicks acted almost as an embodiment of the faculties the Trump lacked — like memory. “He’ll be talking, and then right in the middle he’ll be like, ‘Hope, what was that … thing?’ ” When the name of a senator or congressman or journalist came up, Trump would prompt Hicks to provide a history of their interactions, asking, “Do we like him?” “And she fucking remembers” … “She’s the only person he trusts,” the second source continued. “He doesn’t trust any men and never has.”
In 2018, Hicks testified before the House Intelligence Committee when it was chaired by Republican Devin Nunes. In the closed-door hearing, Hicks reportedly answered questions about the campaign and transition team, but would not respond to queries about her time as White House communications director. In her eight-hour testimony, Hicks reportedly admitted that her job required her to tell “white lies,” but that she had not lied about any matters relevant to the Russia investigations.
House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler has reportedly asked Hicks for documents relating to Michael Flynn’s false statements to the FBI, the firing of James Comey, and any involvement the president had with alleged payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Nadler also wants to explore an alleged conversation in 2017 regarding the notorious June 2016 Trump Tower meeting that could potentially put Hicks in obstruction of justice territory. According to the New York Times, Mark Corallo, a former spokesperson for Trump’s legal team, has told the special counsel about a “previously undisclosed call between Trump and Hicks:”
Mr. Corallo planned to tell investigators that Ms. Hicks said during the call that emails written by Donald Trump Jr. before the Trump Tower meeting — in which the younger Mr. Trump said he was eager to receive political dirt about Mrs. Clinton from the Russians — “will never get out.” That left Mr. Corallo with concerns that Ms. Hicks could be contemplating obstructing justice, the people said.
