Hicks’ exit to leave big ‘ hole’ in West Wing
WASHINGTON — White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, one of President Donald Trump’s closest and most-loyal aides, is resigning.
The departure of one of the president’s longestserving advisers, who worked as a one-woman communications shop during his winning campaign, came as a surprise to most in the White House. The news came a day after Hicks was interviewed for nine hours by the House panel investigating Russia interference in the 2016 election and contact between Trump’s campaign and Russia.
In a statement, Trump — known to at times grow unhappy when Hicks was not around — praised her for her work over the past three years, saying he “will miss having her by my side.”
Hicks, who occupied the desk closest to the Oval Office in the West Wing, has been a central participant in or witness to nearly every milestone and controversy of the Trump campaign and White House. She began her White House tenure as director of strategic communications — a title that only partly captured her more-expansive role as the president’s gatekeeper to the press.
Hicks said in a statement, “There are no words to adequately express my gratitude to President Trump.” She added she wished Trump and his administration the “very best.”
Hicks acknowledged to a House intelligence panel Tuesday that she has occasionally told “white lies” for Trump. But she said she had not lied about anything relevant to the Russia investigation. She also has been interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team about her role in crafting a statement about Donald Trump Jr.’s 2016 meeting with Russians, as Mueller’s expansive probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election and potential misdeeds committed by those in the president’s orbit moves