Hope Hicks revealed little in hearing as Trump lawyers blocked questions, transcript shows
Former White House communications director Hope Hicks revealed little during a closed-door congressional hearing that ran for more than seven hours on Wednesday, according to a transcript of the proceedings released Thursday.
Members of the Democratic majority on the House Judiciary Committee hoped to grill Hicks, who was also a spokesperson for President Trump's 2016 campaign, during Wednesday's hearing but counsel blocked her from answering 155 questions, according to Democratic Chairman Jerry Nadler.
Hicks — who was accompanied by two White House lawyers, two personal attorneys and a Justice Department lawyer — had been instructed by the White House not to answer any questions on the period of time when she was working for the administration. She was, however, allowed speak about her time on the Trump campaign.
According to the transcript, Hicks was asked by Nadler about special counsel Robert Mueller's finding that Mr. Trump had asked former campaign official Corey Lewandowski to urge Attorney General Jeff Sessions to try to restrict the special counsel's probe. Hicks said that she didn't find that request "concerning," but she did believe it was "odd."
When asked for further detail, Hicks' counsel said that she was "immune from testifying about those events and things that she learned in her role as senior adviser to the president, whether by relating the events themselves or by giving a characterization or analysis of them after the fact."
Democrats on the committee asked Hicks about former national security adviser Michael Flynn's ouster, the president's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey, his efforts to thwart special counsel Mueller's nearly two-year investigation and a meeting at Trump Tower in the summer of 2016 that included Mr. Trump's son, Donald Trump, Jr., top campaign officials and a Russian lawyer Trump Jr. thought had damaging information about Hillary Clinton.
Hicks was also pressed about the hush money payments Mr. Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. When Hicks was asked if she ever met Daniels, Hicks replied that she was still in high school in 2005, when the affair between Daniels and Mr. Trump allegedly occurred.