par - Hope Hicks has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19.
- The former White House communications director returned to the Trump administration in the spring of 2020 as assistant to senior adviser Jared Kushner.
- Hicks has already come under scrutiny after she told members of the House Intelligence Committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election that she had sometimes been telling « white lies to President Donald Trump but not lying about anything about the Russian investigation. »
- Hicks, 31, began working with President Trump as a candidate. Trump’s campaign was his first political act.
Hope Hicks resigned as White House communications director nearly two years ago – but is now back in the Trump administration. In October 2020, several publications reported that Hicks tested positive for COVID-19. While Hicks has been in frequent contact with the president, there is no indication that Trump has contracted the virus.
Here are some things you should know about it.
Hicks returned to the White House in early 2020, but not to the communications department.
In contrast to his first term at 1600 Pennsylvania Street, Hicks is now reporting to Jared Kushner, President Trump’s chief adviser (and son-in-law). Hicks’ new title, according to the New York Times, is « The President’s Advisor. » While it is unclear all of the duties of her current position, it appears that she has continued to be involved in Trump’s communications strategy as well as in his campaign for re-election.
“There is no one more dedicated to implementing President Trump’s agenda than Hope Hicks. We are glad to see her back on the team,” Kushner said in a statement to The Times in February 2020.
Following her time in the White House, Hicks had been working at Fox.
She held the position of Communications Director at Fox Corp. She worked under the supervision of CEO of Lachlan Murdoch, the son of media giant Rupert Murdoch.
She testified before the Judicial Committee of the House of Representatives in June 2019.
The commission has summoned Hicks – and many other officials who have worked in the Trump administration – as part of its investigation into the president’s potential obstruction of justice. She did not advance her testimony.
March 29, 2018 was Hicks’ last day as Director of Communications.
Photographers snapped President Trump saying goodbye to Hicks outside the Oval Office.
Before she announced her resignation, Hicks told the House Intelligence Committee Panel that she told « white lies » for President Trump.
Hicks was questioned for nine hours by the commission investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and communications between the Trump campaign and Russia. She admitted that she had sometimes told « white lies » about Trump, but said that she had not lied about anything about the Russian investigation, according to those who attended the closed testimony.
Hicks waves to reporters as she arrives to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on February 27.
She played an unusually visible role in the Porter disaster.
In early February 2018, White House personal secretary Rob Porter resigned after two of his former wives detailed the physical abuse he had suffered. Porter denied the allegations and was initially supported by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. Hicks helped write a statement from Kelly, despite the fact that Hicks herself is romantically involved with Porter. The tide turned on Porter when it was revealed that White House officials had known about the allegations for months and that, a year after the administration began, Porter had no security clearance.
CNN reported that Hicks continued to defend Porter privately to colleagues after his resignation and that Trump became frustrated with the untouched Hicks: “Trump told his aides that he believed Hicks was setting his own priorities before them. However, there is not much of it. Indicates that Hicks is in danger. «
Hicks was involved in the Mueller investigation in Russia for some time.
As part of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections, special attorney Robert Mueller appears to be investigating a 2016 meeting in Trump Tower between campaign officials, including Donald Trump Jr., and several Russians associated with the government, including an attorney. Natalia Veselnitskaya.
When news of that meeting broke out in July 2017, the president himself worked with Hicks, his son Donald Jr., and other advisers to draft a statement, ultimately issued on Donald Jr.’s behalf, that qualified the “Brief Introductory Meeting” campaign meeting that “focused” on Russian adoption.
Mark Corallo, a former spokesman for President Trump’s legal team who resigned last July, is said to have told Mueller of a « hitherto undisclosed conference call with Mr. Trump and Hope Hicks, » in which Hicks spoke, citing emails written by Donald Trump Jr. About the meeting “. Will not be made public,” The New York Times reported on January 31.
The comment allegedly “made Mr. Corallo concerned that Mrs. Hicks was contemplating obstruction of justice,” a charge that Hicks’ lawyer denies.
« As most journalists know, it is not my practice to comment in response to questions from the media. But it is worth a response, » attorney Robert B. Trott said in a statement. « She never said that. The idea that Hope Hicks has suggested blocking or destroying emails or other documents is totally wrong. »
Mueller’s team interviewed Hicks herself in December 2017.
Before his term at the White House ended, Hicks had largely remained a mystery.
Although she was a will to the members of the press wanting to reach for Trump, she has shown very little publicly. She tended to stay behind the camera, advising her boss on journalism strategy. However, in December 2016, she made a rare public appearance at Trump’s victory rally in Mobile, Alabama, when the president-elect invited the 28-year-old on stage.
She grew up in the tony New York City suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut.
Hicks swam at Greenwich Country Club, was co-captain of the lacrosse team at Greenwich High School, and played lacrosse all four years in college.
She also worked as a model.
At the age of 11, she and her sister were employed on the Ralph Lauren campaign. She appeared on the cover of an offshoot of the Gossip Girl series and also appeared as the face of Hourglass Adventures, a series of novels about a 10-year-old who travels through time. (Hicks is still featured on the online book portal.)
And did some acting.
Hicks appeared in Guiding Light.
She comes from a family well versed in politics and public relations.
Her parents met while working on Capitol Hill – her mother as a legislative aide for a Democrat in Tennessee and her father as the chief of staff for a Republican congressman from Connecticut. His father, Paul Hicks III, was CEO of the Americas at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide and Executive Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs for the National Football League before starting his current position as managing director of the Glover Park Group. His late grandfather Paul Hicks was responsible for public relations at Texaco.
She spent time in Texas.
Hicks attended Southern Methodist University, where one of her lacrosse coaches said she was one of the only players to adhere to a no-alcohol policy.
She is a team player.
Liz Holmes, one of her coaches at SMU, told the Washington Post that she is « very smart and has taken her to the field for every match. » And while « if necessary, the team endured and scored goals, [she] preferred to have assists. »
In 2012, two years after her graduation from SMU, she started working for a public relations firm in New York City.
Hiltzik Strategies, the employer at the time, worked with Ivanka Trump and the Trump Organization (its founder, Matthew Hiltzek, is known as a Democratic insider and has worked with Hillary Clinton). In August 2014, the Trump Organization took it internally. There, she handled the PR of Ivanka Trump’s fashion line (this is a photo shoot for her) and some Trump complexes, according to New York magazine.
Donald Trump brought her in to lead the communications for his campaign.
It was the « primary candidate medium for hundreds of reporters, » he wrote in the Boston Globe Matt Fizer for T&C. The then president-elect told GQ, « I shared hope from the start, and it was so wonderful. »
But even then, she wasn’t engaged in politics.
GQ described it as « a registered but neutral republic since 2008 [who] haven’t volunteered much in any campaign. »
While you helped Trump by dictating his tweets during the campaign, you won’t find them on Twitter.
Unless you count the @HicksNoComment parody, which mocks Hicks’ lack of response.
She is well-liked by her former bosses and reporters.
« Hope for Hicks is amazing, » campaign chief Paul Manafort (who Mueller has charged on 12 counts, including money laundering, disinformation and other conspiracy acts) told the Hartford Courant. United States). Incredible depth and breadth. I’ll never know it was his first campaign. She has incredible skills in dealing with the media. «
Maggie Haberman, a political reporter for The New York Times, echoed this sentiment: « I’ve always found hope is a good deal, » Haberman told GQ, « especially given the amount of orders she has to pay off. To receive. »
She lived in Trump’s apartment.
Hicks has a sister, Mary Grace, with whom she lived in Greenwich, but before moving to Washington after the grand opening, she lived in a Trump apartment building in New York City while not traveling.
Maybe she always had an idea of what things would end up someday in Washington.
« If acting doesn’t work, I can really see myself in politics. Who knows? » Hicks told Greenwich magazine when she was 13.
