The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Hope Hicks resigns from White House
After avoiding the glare during the longest White House tenure of any aide in the Trump administration, Hope Hicks might have been blinded by the light of unending scrutiny.
Hicks, the behind-thescenes public relations specialist who worked for President Donald Trump for two years before his election, then shifted to communications director in the White House, resigned Wednesday, the day after an eight-hour, closed-door appearance before the House Intelligence Committee.
Hicks, who grew up in Greenwich, said she wants to pursue other career opportunities when she leaves the White House in the next few weeks.
“There are no words to adequately express my gratitude to President Trump,” Hicks said in a statement through Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House spokesman. “I wish the president and his administration the very best as he continues to lead our country.”
A source close to Hicks said her resignation is not related to the Mueller investigation or the questioning she endured from the congressional committee. She has been contemplating the move for several weeks, the source said, and has not announced when her last day in the White House will be.
But with the proximity of her testimony to Congress, and the ever-expanding investigation into Trump’s circle and Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Hicks’ departure is under a cloud. She told “white lies” for the president, she admitted to the House committee, according to the Associated Press.
Hicks, 29, has been criticized for assisting the president in drafting a misleading statement about the nature of Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with Russian operatives, maintaining for months it was about Russian adoptions. The New York Times has reported she is a focus of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 election.
She was further cited for drafting a statement for Chief of Staff John Kelly that called former White House staff secretary Rob Porter “a man of true integrity and honor” even as two ex-wifes charged that he assaulted them.
“I think the pressure of the Beltway finally became too much,” said Gary L. Rose, the Sacred Heart University professor in Fairfield who hosted Trump’s only Connecticut campaign event in 2016. Rise said Hicks’ romantic connection to Porter might have contributed to the pressure.
On Wednesday, Sanders said the president praised Hicks and wished her well.
“Hope is outstanding and has done great work for the last three years,” Trump said in a statement. “She is as smart and thoughtful as they come, a truly great person. I will miss having her by my side but when she approached me about pursuing other opportunities, I totally understood. I am sure we will work together again in the future.”
Hicks, a one-time model, had handled public relations for Ivanka Trump.
Kelly said when he became chief of staff last year, Hicks stood out among staff members.
“I quickly realized what so many have learned about Hope — she is strategic, poised and wise beyond her years,” Kelly said in a statement. “She became a trusted adviser and counselor and did a tremendous job overseeing the communications for the president’s agenda including the passage of historic tax reform. She has served her country with great distinction. To say that she will be missed, is an understatement.”