Hope Hicks, the longtime aide to Donald Trump who followed him all the way to the White House and into the communications director job previously occupied by Anthony Scaramucci for 10 days, revealed on Wednesday that she was resigning. According to the New York Times, the former model turned personal assistant to the ex-Celebrity Apprentice star made the announcement on Wednesday. Politico reports that Press Secretary Sarah Sanders subsequently confirmed the news to reporters.
Per the Times, Trump’s third communications director “had been considering leaving for several months”:
She told colleagues that she had accomplished what she felt she could with a job that made her one of the most powerful people in Washington, and that there would never be a perfect moment to leave, according to White House aides.
In a statement, Hicks expressed her gratitude to President Trump and the White House staff:
“There are no words to adequately express my gratitude to President Trump,” Hicks said in a statement provided by the White House, in which she did not say what she planned to do next. “I wish the President and his administration the very best as he continues to lead our country.”
Her resignation came a day after she “Bannoned” the House Intelligence Committee while testifying behind closed doors. Though nowhere nearly as severely as Carter Page, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, and others with previous connections to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, White House transition, and early administration, Hicks has been a person of interest to Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s ongoing probe into possible collusion with Russia. But like former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, she apparently revealed nothing.
(Via New York Times and Politico)