“Hopie” is the name President Donald Trump uses to address his longtime communications aide Hope Hicks.
As the Trump administration’s communications director, Hicks is literally the hand behind President Trump’s prolific and often controversial tweeting. She has been close to the Trump family for several years and has risen through the ranks quickly to become the permanent White House Communications Director, which is likely why she is now a crucial interviewee in Robert S. Mueller III’s investigations into Russian meddling in last year’s presidential election.
Hicks took all of seven years to go from being a college graduate to landing the most high-profile communications job in the country at the age of 29. One of her sole claims to fame – aside from the fact that she is known to be a formidable communications expert – is that Trump implicitly trusts her, and the unconventional communications director appears to be a perfect fit for Trump’s unconventional White house.
That trust originated from Ivanka Trump first spotting her in 2014 and whisking her away from her position at Hiltzik Strategies to come work for the Trump Organization. Soon enough, Hicks was roped in as Trump’s campaign press secretary.
Her rise to the top of the communications hierarchy in the White House has put her in the middle of nearly every conversation worth investigating, and that’s why Mueller now has his scope trained on her. Hope Hicks was due to be interviewed as part of the probe into the Russia meddling issue by special counsel.
While there’s no report yet confirming the interview has already happened, the fact that Hicks was present on board Air Force One when the original misleading statement about Trump Jr. meeting with the Russian lawyer in Trump Tower was formulated makes her a very important source of information for federal investigators. Additionally, she could also be in the know about whether or not the senior Trump was aware of the meeting at the time.
This will be the ultimate test of Hope Hicks’ loyalty. Her answers to questions during the interview and any subsequent role she might play in the federal investigation could well provide the ammunition that Mueller’s team needs to go all the way to the top.
According to former federal prosecutor Michael Zeldin, who served as special assistant to Robert Mueller at the Justice Department:
“In all the key junctures, she’s there. I’m sure she’s a reluctant witness and the job of Bob Trout, her lawyer, is to say, ‘Hope, the only person you have to be loyal to in these interviews is yourself.’ Hopefully for her, she tells the truth.”
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