Just yesterday, White House Communications Director Hope Hicks conceded to House investigators that, as part of her service on Donald Trump’s team, she doesn’t always tell the truth. According to the New York Times, she’ll soon no longer feel that pressure.
Hope Hicks, the White House communications director and one of President Trump’s longest-serving advisers, said Wednesday that she was resigning.
Ms. Hicks, 29, a former model who joined Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign without any experience in politics, became known as one of the few aides who understood his personality and style and could challenge the president to change his views.
Ms. Hicks had been considering leaving for several months. She told colleagues that she had accomplished what she felt she could with a job that made her one of the most powerful people in Washington, and that there would never be a perfect moment to leave, according to White House aides.
If the turnover in this position seems excessive, that’s because it has been. Before the president took office, Jason Miller, who worked with Trump during the campaign, was supposed to be the first communications director in this White House, but he unexpectedly withdrew before Inauguration Day due to personal troubles.
Sean Spicer then took on the gig, splitting his time between this job at serving as press secretary for about a month. Mike Dubke then served as Trump’s communications director, before quitting after three months. Everyone no doubt remembers Anthony Scaramucci, who also had the job, though he didn’t quite make it to the two-week mark.
Hope Hicks, who always seemed like an odd choice for the position — she has no literally no background in political communications — is now exiting the stage, too.
This position has suddenly become like being Spinal Tap’s drummer.
What we don’t yet know is why Hicks is suddenly departing. Given her hours of testimony to the House Intelligence Committee yesterday, it’s only natural to wonder whether aspects of the Russia scandal are prompting her unexpected departure.
Indeed, the Washington Post recently had this report: Recently, Hicks’s name has surfaced relating to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into whether Trump sought to obstruct a federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. She helped draft a news statement on Air Force One, partly at the direction of the president, that misrepresented the purpose of Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer during the campaign, according to multiple administration officials. Hicks has been interviewed by Mueller’s investigators. Watch this space. Postscript: For more on the ridiculous amount of staff turnover in this White House, consider the list I published just this morning.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
