Hope Hicks, White House Comms Director, To Resign

Hope Hicks, President Donald Trump's longest serving aide who moved from doing public relations for Ivanka Trump to serving as White House Communications Director, is resigning from her post. The New York Times first reported that Hicks was resigning from her position.

"There are no words to adequately express my gratitude to President Trump," Hicks said in a statement. "I wish the President and his administration the very best as he continues to lead our country."

Hicks' resignation announcement comes a day after she testified for nine hours before the House Intelligence Committee to answer questions about Russian interference in the U.S. election. At the hearing, Hicks acknowledged that she has occasionally told "white lies" for Trump but has not lied about anything relevant to the Russia investigation, according to those present for Hicks' closed-door testimony.

"Hope is outstanding and has done great work for the last three years. She is as smart and thoughtful as they come, a truly great person," President Trump said in a statement. "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."

One of Trump's closest and longest serving advisers who had no experience in politics, Hicks, 29, served as spokeswoman for the Trump campaign. Once Trump was elected president, she took on the role of Director of Strategic Communications at the White House before being promoted to Communications Director. She was promoted to her current role after Anthony Scaramucci, who served in that position for just 10 days, was ousted from the administration.

"When I became Chief of Staff, I quickly realized what so many have learned about Hope – she is strategic, poised and wise beyond her years," Chief of Staff John Kelly said. "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."

Hicks, who maintained a low profile in the administration, did not post to social media or make appearances on cable news to represent the White House. However, Hicks came under scrutiny after the resignation of White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter earlier this month. Hicks, who had reportedly been romantically involved with Porter, was involved in drafting a statement expressing full support of Porter that was attributed to Kelly, multiple media outlets reported at the time. Porter was accused of domestic abuse by his two ex-wives.

Hicks was also under the spotlight for her apparent role in drafting a statement in response to an inquiry from The New York Times that the president's son, Donald Trump Jr., had met with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower in the summer of 2016. The statement said the meeting primarily concerned a Russian adoption program, though emails released later showed that Trump Jr. enthusiastically agreed to the sit-down with a Russian lawyer and others after he was promised dirt on Trump's presidential opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Hicks was with the president on Air Force One while they were writing the initial statement. The Times reported that the statement has become a focus Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. According to the report in The Times, Mark Corallo, who served as a spokesman for Trump's legal team, planned to tell Mueller about a conference call where Hicks had reportedly said the younger Trump's emails written before the meeting would never get out.

Patch will update this report.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.

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