Hope Hicks latest Trump aide to live in the spotlight

WASHINGTON» In a White House full of noise, she is the quiet one. Not the TV gladiator, not press room warrior, not a general. Certainly not the Mooch.

Hope Hicks, the discreet aide always at President Donald Trump’s side whose desk is just outside the Oval Office, is his right-hand woman. Improbably, the former model, at only 29, has worked with Trump longer than anyone he is not related to at the White House.

But now Hicks is suddenly frying under the spotlight of scandal, a central figure in two White House controversies — the Russian investigation and the departure of a senior White House aide accused of physically abusing two ex-wives.

Hicks has been dating Rob Porter, 40, who left his job Wednesday, and was involved in crafting the widely condemned initial White House defense of him. Chief of staff John Kelly called him “a man of true integrity.”

After Porter began dating Hicks, an ex-girlfriend brought accusations to the White House about Porter’s abuse of his exwives.

In recent days, Trump has complained about Hicks — a rare occurrence for a president who rages about others but rarely about her. Her colleagues have quietly accused her of looking out for Porter and not the White House, and she has been visibly upset in recent days as her personal life becomes a national news story. West Wing aides say she has glanced at the TV screens, seen her face and quickly looked away.

Until now, it was Hicks’ quiet judgment that had been her most valuable currency in Trump’s world. She is attracting so much unwanted attention that paparazzi are even following her. But it is a sign of her influence with Trump, and her unusual role in the West Wing, that no one is seriously talking about removing Hicks even as the turmoil is threatening Kelly’s job. “Hope is absolutely fantastic. She was with the campaign from the beginning, and I could not ask for anything more,” Trump said Saturday. “Hope is smart, very talented and respected by all.”

“Trump has seen her loyalty on the campaign and during the turbulent beginning of this administration, and he relies on her,” said Christopher Ruddy, a close friend of the president and chief executive of the conservative website Newsmax.

Hicks knew an ex-girlfriend of Porter’s had approached White House officials and told them that both of his ex-wives had said he was violent, according to a White House official who said this put Hicks on edge for weeks. Yet she continued to date him and did not tell the president about those allegations, White House officials said.

When the allegations became public last week, Kelly initially said: “Rob Porter is a man of true integrity and honor, and I can’t say enough good things about him.” That response, which was partially orchestrated by Hicks, caused outrage among many. The National Organization for Women called Kelly an “enabler of domestic violence.”

Others in the White House said Kelly believes Hicks did not tell himallthefactsaboutporter—and should have recused herself from the matter because she was dating him. A White House spokesman said Kelly and Trump remain confident in her performance.

A former Rhodes scholar with a Harvard law degree, Porter has called the allegations “vile” and “simply false.” Hicks has told others in the White House she is upset about the accusations but has not publicly criticized Porter.