‘It’s a farce’: Former Trump aide Hope Hicks deflects questions from Congress

Few people know Donald Trump as well as Hope Hicks. Her responses to questions about her old boss today left his enemies livid.

Former White House communications director Hope Hicks during an interview with the House Judiciary Committee. Picture: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

Few people know or understand Donald Trump better than Hope Hicks.

The 30-year-old became known as something of a Trump “whisperer” during her time in the White House. She was appointed the youngest communications director in history, and as the rest of Mr Trump’s staff often crumbled around her, with chiefs of staff and press secretaries quickly flaming out, she was the one constant, always by the President’s side.

“My father makes people earn his trust. She’s earned his trust,” Ivanka Trump once said.

It was Ivanka who discovered Ms Hicks, poaching her from a PR company that was handling her fashion line back in 2014. By January of 2015, a short time after Ms Hicks joined the Trump Organisation, Mr Trump himself recruited her to work on his presidential campaign.

“Her most important role is her bond with the candidate. She totally understands him,” campaign chairman Paul Manafort later told the New York Times.

For a long time, Ms Hicks was among Mr Trump’s closest confidantes, second only to his children.

Good times. Picture: AFP

She did eventually leave the White House, and now serves as an executive vice president and chief communications officer at 21st Century Fox.

“She is as smart and thoughtful as they come, a truly great person,” the President said when Ms Hicks decided to leave.

“I will miss having her by my side but when she approached me about pursuing other opportunities, I totally understood.”

But she was back in Washington D.C. today for a closed-door meeting with the House Judiciary Committee in Congress.

It didn’t go particularly well.

“It’s a farce,” Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic representative from Washington, said after the hearing.

“We’re watching obstruction of justice in action,” said Californian Congressman Ted Lieu.

The committee’s chairman Jerry Nadler told reporters Ms Hicks had answered “some” questions and given them “a lot of good information”, but he was still dissatisfied.

Ms Hicks had refused to answer any questions about her time in the White House, only speaking about her role on the Trump campaign.

A White House lawyer in the room for her testimony repeatedly claimed she had total immunity from discussing anything that happened after Mr Trump’s inauguration.

“The White House asserted so-called absolute immunity, which is ridiculous and which we’ll destroy in court,” Mr Nadler promised.

At one point, according to Democrats, Ms Hicks would not even answer a question as simple and insignificant as where she sat at work.

Whatever she knows about the inner workings of Mr Trump’s administration, she is not willing to share.

Former White House communications director Hope Hicks in the Capitol today. Picture: AP

She was tight-lipped about the goings-on inside the White House during her tenure. Picture: AP

*Mostly* closed-door. This cameraman found a crack. Picture: AP

Hope Hicks leaving following the interview. Picture: AP

The eight-hour hearing was a sign of how Washington has changed since the midterm elections last November. Having claimed a majority in the House of Representatives, the Democrats are using their new-found powers to investigate Mr Trump.

The Judiciary Committee is examining potential obstruction of justice, and Ms Hicks was the first current or former Trump administration official to testify before it.

As you might recall, obstruction of justice was a key focus of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. The report ultimately did not reach a conclusion on whether Mr Trump had obstructed justice, though Mr Mueller publicly stressed it did not exonerate him.

The Mueller team interviewed Ms Hicks three times during its probe, and her name appears 184 times in the report.

Among other things, she told Mr Mueller that Mr Trump’s urge to constrain the Russia investigation was caused by his insecurities, particularly the idea that Russia’s interference in the 2016 election might make his victory over Hillary Clinton seem illegitimate.

The President himself was keeping one eye on Ms Hicks’ visit to Capitol Hill today, and expressed sympathy for her.

“So sad that the Democrats are putting wonderful Hope Hicks through hell, for three years, after total exoneration by Robert Mueller and the Mueller report. They were unhappy with the result so they want a do-over. Very unfair and costly to her,” Mr Trump said.

It was undoubtedly not the last time she will be called to testify.