On the heels of a recent CNN report indicating Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller wants to talk to several White House staffers regarding Donald Trump Jr.’s “initial misleading statement” regarding his controversial Trump Tower meeting, the Washington Post and The Daily Beast have named six particular aides they want to chat with. And chief among them is longtime Donald Trump associate turned interim White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, whom the latter outlet suggests “is going to be a witness” in Mueller’s ever-expanding investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged misdeeds.
Sources told The Daily Beast Hicks “likely has information that will interest Mueller,” especially with regards to Trump Jr.’s controversial meeting. Hence why one person familiar with the investigation said there was “[n]odoubt in my mind she is going to be a witness.” It remains unknown if Hicks, like so many of her fellow Trump administration officials before her, has retained private council to combat the likely storm of inquiries. However, The Daily Beast notes “there are currently efforts underway to organize a legal defense fund for White House staffers.”
Aside from Hicks, the Washington Post named former Press Secretary Sean Spicer, former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, White House counsel Don McGahn, the latter’s aide James Burnham, and Jared Kushner aide and White House spokesman Josh Raffel as persons of interest to the Mueller investigation. What’s more, the probe apparently intends to pursue these individuals not just for their knowledge (or lack thereof) of Trump Jr.’s meeting, but for their being “privy to important internal discussions” concerning the firing of FBI Director James Comey and the ignoring of warnings pertaining to then-national security adviser Michael Flynn.
(Via Washington Post and The Daily Beast)