Awwww. Don’t worry, she’ll be on Fox by Friday.
11
Reality TV meets true reality. As someone who probably knows a great deal of dirt, as Kelly said, “wise beyond her years,” she sees what’s coming and will get out of Dodge before the bubbling swamp of the Trump Administration explodes.
9
For JM. Waste no pity on Hope Hicks. She made her beds and now she should lie in them.
10
Did she detail what the 'white lies' (which equal LIES) were?
9
Yet another one bites the dust from this garage sale of an administration. Just how much of a joke does it have to become until conservatives actually recognize that something is horribly wrong? At least her hair looked good while her pants were on fire... Liar Liar.
15
Hopefully the next bracelets she will wear will be provided courtesy of the Justice Department.
8
Given the 80 car pile up that this administration demonstrates on a daily basis - where are all the Republicans that should be speaking out against the ineptitude of this circus of a WH?
9
James Comey, the ex FBI Director, is an honorable man and was beloved and respected by the FBI rank and rile (contrary to the lies of Sarah Huckabee Sanders), so I would like to offer to New York Times readers this lovely musical tribute to James Comey in the hope that he will agree to grace us with his presence again as the future director of the FBI, once Trump is ousted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l0xpkk0yaQ
1
Yep "I will have the Best People". The begining of many Lies!
5
I feel no pity whatever for Hope Hicks whose pretty face and small Trumpite brain has gotten her in a pack of trouble. If she’s not sleeping well I am not surprised. If she is indicted she surely deserves it.
7
I would think it more believable Hope than Nikki....
2
Based on his responses to all of these departures (work together again, great career ahead), the president really believes he will serve out at least this term, possibly a second, and avoid any confrontations with the law. Then after his time as the president, he will pursue other ventures, such as a media empire, and hire all of these outcasts back to run them.
They just have to "stay strong."
Or, in other words, shut up.
2
Can Dancing with the Stars be next?
8
It was prudent for Ms. Hicks to leave...before her "white lies" got her into real legal trouble with real jail time as a real possibility.
4
Electing a reality TV personality who is willfully ignorant and deeply morally compromised was not a good idea! The election of Trump is the result of conservatives contempt for government and governing. Trump is the result.
Can we begin to say the obvious: experience in public service MATTERS!
8
"I am sure we will work together again in the future", Trump said.
Only if once they're released from prison they are assigned to the same community service.
7
There is no such thing as a "white lie". It's just a lie. Hope Hicks is a self-admitted liar with as little of a moral compass as the rest of the trash in the White House.
15
White lies matter.
17
Hope has been voted off the island?!
7
All the rats jumping ship.
10
you can run but you can't hide!
8
I ask that my fellow anti-Trumpers stop moralizing about (as they dump on) Hope Hicks.
I see her as something of a victim...a young woman lured into a proverbial lion’s den.
Who among us could have turned down such an ‘exciting’ job?
Yes. By degrees she ‘compromised’ herself but she’s no Kellyanne Conway OR Sarah Sanders.
And...WHEN it came time, she was unable to follow the instructions (she had been issued) to lie or, at least. ‘stonewall’ before the Congressional Committee.
She may, indeed, prove to be THE cornerstone (to mix a metaphor) in the effort to expose Trump and his criminal enterprise.
SHE has no reason to lie.
As she cooperates with the Special Counsel (as now she must), let us wish her well.
BTW: it should be obvious that the timing of her departure was no ‘coincidence’. The world’s oldest five year-old threw a tantrum (about her ‘white lies’ remark) and she was shown the door!
5
Hope Hicks' explanation for leaving is just another cock and bull story barked out from the Trump carnival tent.
8
A couple of decades or so ago, Hugh Heftner would've snapped her up for the Playboy Mansion--much more fun and, for better or worse, more honest.
4
Sad to see Hicks go, with all her experience and wisdom in government work, her experience will be sorely missed (sarcasm). Another one bites the dust. Is she going to go the route of Omarosa? Drama in the group house? Maybe also publish a tell all? Reading about the White House is like reading People magazine.
6
Trump says "I am sure we will work together again in the future.”
With this... I imagine them on a prison road cleanup crew wearing orange coveralls with "Making America Great Again" stenciled on the back.
9
Trump: "She [Hope hicks] had about as much experience as a coffee cup."
Lewandowski: "But she's good looking."
Trump: "That always helps."
Dec 5, 2017: Campaign-Manager Corey Lewandowski’s book “Let Trump Be Trump”. Trump knew Hope Hicks was incompetent from the start.
10
Hope leaving, Jarrad losing his clearance, Melania seemingly keeping her distance, McMaster on thin ice, Bannon gone, -- who does Trump have to talk to besides Kelly?
9
Twitter World!
1
This is Nina Castro:
"[Little] white lies" So cute! It would seem that from the photo, she is getting a good opportunity to practice a "perp walk", slightly different from the "cat walk". Is there not one person of depth, character or dignity in whole White House? The place has been ransacked by barbarians, I think. The sad part is that we opened the gates.
8
The REALLY sad part is, the cretins who put this abysmal group of incompetent, ill-intentioned, know-nuthin' clowns in the White House. Don't need to look far. They're living all around us. They are, thanks to the so-called "electoral college", 49% of the U.S. population.
3
And actually when you look at the polls that include just a random sampling of all people 18+, whether registered voters or not, we're then talking about over 55% of Americans. This suggests that if everyone voted who was eligible, conservatives would be much more dominant. I think that to defeat Trumpism the left would need to come back towards the center, maybe Bill Clinton era liberalism? The extremists of both parties have come to dominate the narrative and I'm just not sure the left can win much while letting college kids dictate the party line. And the farther left liberals go, the more extreme the right gets. Not pretty.
1
Hicks says she has "no words" to express her gratitude to DJT. "No words." That's the kind of expressive skill one wants in a communications director. [Insert irony emoticon here.]
25
Looks like she understands the legal safety of "no words", ie "fill in the blanks"
7
By most accounts, she seems like an intelligent, socially adept person who could have found success in many endeavors. But not now - She'll never be able to wash the Trump-stink off, which polls tell us dooms one with more than half the American public (me included, obviously). Dear Hope: see ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!
11
Good job once again Maggie. Tick tock tick tock Tweeter. Mueller is coming after you for your obstruction of justice, your campaign’s conspiracy to collude with your beloved Russians, and if you submit to Mueller’s questioning under oath, for your expected lies. And I hope Mueller will reveal all your close financial and personal ties to the Russians as well as all the Russians have on you that have motivated your lovey dovey relationship with Putin and his minions. In addition, you will end up taking a lot of folks down with you because of their gullibility and misplaced loyalty to you. I lived through the Nixon disaster, but in the end you may top that embarrassing fiasco.
6
The president asks for complete, unabashed allegiance from his staff. A crack in your devotion leads to your demotion.
You are only one of the "best people" until he says otherwise. Then you are tossed to the curb. There's a line of opportunists waiting at the door.
7
If this ends anything like Watergate ended, Hope Hicks will plead to a lesser charge than what she is guilty of (unless she does not cooperate), and will likely spend a modest amount of time in prison.
Her next activities should be:
Step 1: testify fully and honestly to Mueller.
Step 2: read "Orange is the New Black" to prepare for her short time as a young, white woman in a federal penitentiary Maybe she, too, will write about her experience.
6
It's official: Trump is hopeless.
9
Lol Oswald, that's the best yet!
1
The White House announced today the new White House Communications Director will be a Mr. JOHN MILLER.
3
If Hope Hicks had to leave, why is Kellyanne Conway still there? After all, what's the difference between "white lies" (HH) and "alternative facts" (KC)? Besides, what if her departure has nothing to do with Trump, and everything to do with being 29 years old, her love life - and maybe starting a family? Commentators have uniformly given her good marks for being respectful towards others and having good judgment - except for maybe her choice in men. I wish her well.
2
Let's look at 2 scenarios for how Hope Hicks got to be Communications Director...
Scenario 1: Donald Trump is expert at identifying talented, critical thinkers. He has a reputation for surrounding himself with the best and the brightest, as shown by his record of business success and his participation in the public sector. His appointees have been consistently honest, ethical, and deeply experienced which they have brought to addressing our most pressing problems. Based on this, he identified Hope Hicks as one of these people and asked her to join his staff.
Scenario 2: Donald Trump is a narcissist who has been recorded saying he sees women as sexual objects to be assaulted by him because of his celebrity. His public comments about women have been insulting to those he considers unattractive or fawning over those he sees as sexually alluring. He once said that if his own daughter was not his daughter he would most likely try to date her. He has been a serial adulterer, engaging in affairs with his next wife while still married to his previous one. There is credible evidence that he paid a porn star to remain silent about their affair. He has been accused of sexual assault by 14 women. Based on this approach he identified Hope Hicks, a former model, as a possible conquest and, despite her lack of political experience asked her to join his staff and then put her in an office closer to his than his chief of staff.
Which scenario is more likely?
13
I have wondered how Hope Hicks defines a 'white lie'? Perhaps she could cite a few examples so one would understand her interpretation a bit better? And would the investigators be content with her definition?
13
What's the over/under — Mueller turns Hicks in less than a week or maybe a little longer? I'll take the over; ten days.... max.
7
Good riddance. I hope she has committed an indictable offense.
8
What is Trump going to do without his favorite eye candy strutting around the West Wing? Do you think he wants to look at Jared?
7
Spokesmodel. Does anyone in this regime have any real qualifications, i.e. education and experience, for the position they are overpaid for ?????
Is like handing out huuuuuge party favors. SAD.
8
Who else could possibly jump ship except the Heritage Fund lobbyists who work in the White House? Their mission is not yet completed....
2
Let me see if I have this straight. Hope Hicks at age 29 has more access and possibly influence to the president than practically anyone else in the White House. She is young, beautiful and at the height of power in a power town. She seems to be a true believer. Probably sought out by many of Washington's most eligible bachelors. A job many of us would die for. So why leave when the ride is just beginning? Looking for a better opportunities? Give me a break! She has been with him for the past three years. As one so close to Trump we can only imagine what she has heard him say or tell her in his many unguarded moments plus her role in enabling him. She may very well be the keeper of Trumps secrets. Obstruction thoughts, Collusion thoughts, illegal thoughts?? She has already been interviewed by the Muller team. No white lies to FBI agents, that's jail time. Hope is no match for seasoned FBI interviewers. She very well may have fessed up everything she knows. Completely unannounced departure from a leaky White House? Hmm? No way you leave the best job (in her mind) in the world. Something is very rotten in Denmark folks. She may very well be the unwitting person who brings down this president. Stay tuned.
13
There once was a Washington liar
Whose skills pushed her higher and higher
But her climb to the top
Quickly came to a stop
And now her situation is dire
10
Love it!
The rats, one by one, jump ship, lawyer up, and either contact a publishing house re: their tell-all book idea, or start calling all those prospective employers they've been servicing on the taxpayer dime for lo these long months.
The clueless (Carson, DeVos, Perry) will wander the halls, collecting paychecks. The lawyers will stick around for the paychecks and prospective clientele from the defendant class. The ones firmly committed to destroying government (Mulvaney, Pruitt, Mnuchin, Zinke, Tillerson, Pai) will hang around on the payroll, like Elliot Abrams, as public serpents, beating down doors for their corporate clients. Stephen Miller will go to work for the American Legislative Exchange Council, hopefully in in some quasi-legal state where he is forbidden from speaking in public, ever. Ivanka, Jared and Donnie jr will try to help Daddy salvage the severely tarnished Trump brand in countries with tinpot dictatorships (where Sessions may find gainful employment as a law enforcement consultant). Kristjen Nielsen will re-connect with her Scandinavian roots, unlike the untold numbers of families whose dissolution she has overseen. And the parasitic class that hovers over this White House--predators like Erik Prince who profit from conflict and death in neglected corners of the globe--will attach to some other rusting ship or slimy rock.
Leaving the Emperor, nekked as a jaybird, watching TV and reminiscing on what a good candidate he was.
We can all dream, can't we??
8
Just another day in the Orwellian White House.
7
This is purely a reflection of the Swamp versus America's elected President.
Maggie practically apologizes on behalf of the Swamp and its Pravdas . Hope understood Trump without previous experience ... or was it because of no previous experience in the sewer that our East-Coast culture has devolved to?
This beautiful woman - another fact that made her a prime target of the all-too-ordinary-looking progressives - did her job well. But as with so many normal people who take a turn in these squalid environments, one has to eventually decide whether to risk becoming one of the inmates.
Hope Hicks chose not to fit into D.C. and take on the coat of slime adhering to so many there.
You can honestly say that she is too good to stay there in that fetid place run by the most mercenary Democrats the world has yet seen. More power to her, and I feel the same pressures are on Ivanka and Jared, even as more people are working to destroy Jared as a person than ever before.
3
Oh Lordy. Her own words were that she lies for this president.
Mr. Kushner running his own businesses out of our WH is an ethics violation. Actions and consequences go together even in Mr. Trump's "fetid Swamp"- that you feel some sort of obligation to excuse it is remarkable.
3
Maggie - a question I've never heard discussed anywhere: Does Hope Hicks have a top secret security clearance?
9
Shame how so many of the "best people" are deserting the current administration. NOT! Observing from here it appears the writing is on the wall and those who are fearful of the consequences of their actions are gettin' while the gettin's good.
3
You all don't get it. Hicks flipped to Mueller to avoid perjury and obstruction of justice and the White House knows this and fired her. She was looking at serious jail time and no one on the Trump team is going to take a fall for him.
8
Many people working in the closest entourage of this president have mind boggling credentials.
Never has this Great Country fallen to such dismal level standards.
4
So Bill Clinton was impeached for a tryst with Monica Lewinsky(As though that placed our country in jeopardy) yet Trump can not be impeached for the multitudes of things he has done to the country? To the respectability of the Presidency? Being on the verge of nuclear war with North Korea? That's fair. That's Republican.
6
Rats abandoning a sinking ship.
3
All Hope won't be gone,
When she sings her song swan.
She could use some reflection,
And months of disinfection,
Then with her life move on.
See Larry Eisenberg collection at nytimes-comments.github.io
3
According to the Wall Street Journal, when Hope Hicks told the House Intelligence Committee she had told "white lies" on behalf of the president, she gave as an example telling people the president did not want to see that he was too busy too see them. This wasn't the cause of her resignation.
4
Earth to Media. Hicks has smelled the covfefe and flipped. Corallo
made this a certainty. The prospect of jail time clarified
her mind and she has jumped ship so she will be long gone
when the roof caves in.
She spoke to Mueller and wisely did not trust Trump's stooges
on the committee who would report back what she said
a sure sign she flipped Mueller is looking at Trump Russia
dealings before he ran. Hicks was there for all of that.
4
Hope Hicks seems a beautiful charming young lady, a model and good friend to Ivanka. It makes me think about how Bill Clinton liked to keep young attractive women around. I hope I am wrong and even saying it makes me uncomfortable. The poses for the camera and outshining Melania everywhere she appears seems to signal an unsavory White House culture. Hope Hicks is just the kind of woman that Trump would pick as his side conquest.
4
I wondered how & why could Melania tolerate this young woman being joined at the hip with DT?
2
Hicks leave due to white lies? What about Sarah Huckabee Sanders who simply lies?
6
“When Mr. Trump was planning his campaign in spring 2015, he told Ms. Hicks he was pulling her from Ms. Trump’s team to put her on his small political staff..” This is one of the most bizarre statements in this entire story! What is she, a servant of the Trump family? Or worse, some slave who is posted like chattel? Is she not a free agent?
4
According to the Wall Street Journal, when a member of the House Intelligence Committee asked Hicks if she had ever lied for President Trump, she answered that she sometimes told “white lies” on behalf of the president. She gave the example of telling people who the president did not want to see that he was too busy to see them. But she told the committee she never lied about anything related to the Russian investigation.
1
Only WH aides and NYT believe that HH had long term plans of leaving her man now. After her testimony before committee investigators, she knew could not continue sharing office space with the man she’s enabled for the last 3 years. Hicks’ timely departure speaks ominously for her boss’s very dark future.
4
Little White Lies
Alternative Facts
Perjury
Is there one single person that has left this administration without being tainted, smeared or outright disgraced?
At what point does Trump say, "Maybe it's me?"
6
There was a crooked man who walked a crooked mile he sought a crooked friend who lived in a crooked country he has a crooked son in law who surrounded himself in debt and they all lived in a crooked house very well. It's not just the anger that Trump constantly divides this country into but the sadness that is etched into the faces that reflect back from our bathroom mirrors.
4
Neither Mueller nor the law will be kind to Ms. Hicks. (If there was any doubt, McGan publicly threw her under the bus for trying to bury incriminating emails.
Ms Hicks needs to take a job in the private sector before she becomes completely radioactive. I imagine a Koch or Mercer think-tank will find her a spot and pay her legal fees. Simultaneously Fox News will create a well paid , on-air role for her. What Dana Loesch is to the NRA, she will become to the Trump Crime Syndicate.
But her problem isn't going away: Mueller.
5
So, is claiming a meeting in which Russians secretly promised to provide illegally hacked Democratic emails, in return for a Trump promise to lift the Magnitsky sanctions (sanctions Putin had retaliated against by denying American couples the ability to take in Russian children) was simply a “meeting about Adoptions” a White Lie?
4
Who will be in charge of editing his tweets now? Can “covfefe” be far behind?
2
I look forward to being enlightened on all the new words coming out...
"Their absence will deprive Mr. Trump and his daughter and son-in-law of the many aides who served as crucial buffers and sounding boards as a turbulent and politically uncertain year begins." Does anyone really believe this. These people will still have access to Trump. Because Trump alone decides who he is going to have access too. Not Kelly. Hope Hicks is just another Trump flunky . She was popular with the President because they share the same sense of entitlement and share the lack of morality.
She admitted to "white Lies" for Trump. Where Trump is concerned there is no such thing as a "white Lie". They are all black as they can be. Hope is just what Trump is. A born liar.
4
Go easy on her, Maggie (rolls eyes).
3
The rush to leave the White House reminds me of the evacuation of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. I mean, who on earth would want to stay in a snake pit like the Trump administration?
4
They're taking big gambles with the roulette gun, methinks...
2
Ms. Hicks better start binge watching " Orange Is The New Black" on Netflix. As a former fashion model (still baffles me that was her qualification), she should know how to make the best of it. Call me Hope, I'll lend you my Netflix account info until your indictment.
3
Standard procedure to become part of the White House is to be way above average intelligent proven through demanding education and challenging job promotions. Hope Hicks was given a shortcut by winning some Beauty Queen events. One good reason why employees at the White House are depressed and quitting.
3
If the drama entourage and enablers flee the listing ship, who will be there with the Captain when it slips below waterline?
Is there a Minuteman silo reconfigured for the new Oval Office? The present one’s wall’s are as egg shell thin as the inhabitants ego.
2
Oh, please. Too many male commentators and staffers have made the relatively short term ( six years) work of a beautiful staffer with some modeling experience sound like the history of the most accomplished, experienced, professional and poised woman ever. They sounded like high school freshman with a crush on a cheerleader. Glad she's gone! She was in fact a lying, colluding, unethical inexperienced person who fit in with the Trump folks and that, fellas, ain't flattering. Sleeping with Lewandowski and Porter and claiming she tells white lies for Trump! Ha. Get out.
8
So the world's most uncommunicative Communications Director is gone, along with all the hickeys she acquired from her White House paramours and wife beaters. No sympathy here. Trump still has Kellyann Conway and Sarah Huckabee Sanders to lie for him.
8
Hope admits she told white lies to protect trump sometimes. Those were the good days: Other times she told big lies to protect him.
44
Ms. Hicks’ qualifications for her (rather important) government job:
- She is physically attractive.
- She has no honor, dignity, or integrity, and was thus able to work for, and be loyal to, Mr. Trump.
6
Ms. Hicks has chosen to pursue attractive career opportunities - such as an opportunity to spend most of the rest of her life outside of jail.
61
You know, reading these comments about excusing Ms Hicks somewhat because she's so young and inexperienced, I keep thinking about how many people her age have worked steadily and responsibly at decent, maybe low paying jobs, are raising and supporting families, serving in their communities, and conducting themselves honestly.
I don't think she deserves a break because of her age and lack of experience. After all, those attributes, along with her looks are what got her the job.
8
The extraordinary waste and depletion of effectiveness of the oval office on employees and staffers with no experience, no credentials or ability to do the job, and whose roles seem only to be to act as speed bumps to get in the way of the baby-man president's Darwinian instincts for self-destruction is astonishing. Those jobs are meant for people who are actually going to accomplish something meaningful--not for play acting.
2
A reality show and bankrupt business record doesn't quite do it, nor does a model become a communictions director for said person who quite shockingly became a president. Somehow this is more like the apprentice than possibly intended, more of the WAG THE DOG or Peter Sellers in his role as the gardener. Of course, Trump venal, not at like Chancy, and Hope? Rather like Ivanka: beautiful but what else? A model is a model is a model. There are those who work toward such positions of responsibility and power as Hope and Ivanka and Jared have. What a bizarre place we find ourselves today, more akin to "Name Your Republic."
2
Never saw a bad picture of Hope. Will miss seeing her around!
2
Methinks it’s Kushner and Ivanka who are the weakest links in a very, very thin chain. And those who came in through them, now know this. As some have stated, these young people may not have known better. But their parents and legal representatives do.
“Reed Cordish, a policy adviser and friend of Jared Kushner and Ms. Trump, is leaving his role; Josh Raffel, a press aide whose initial portfolio was primarily focused on Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump, is also leaving; and Dina Powell, who had been a deputy national security adviser who was close to Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump, left weeks ago.”
4
Only in Trump World is three years in a job “a long time.”
7
Please, Hicks has been considering this for months? She just chose the day she spoke to Mueller to do it? That is rich.
10
I believe the apropo term is "rats fleeing a sinking ship".
Flynn, Gates, Papadopoulos, Pinedo and der Zwaan have plead guilty to Mueller's indictments. Manafort is feeling extreme heat. Tens of White House staff have left in the past months for reasons defined or undefined, but they fled a sinking White House.
Ms. Hicks did not need a crystal ball to see her future.
6
Like most in Trump's White House, Hope Hicks had a title she didn't deserve. Regardless, it's no surprise that no one stays. (Also leaving the WH to work at Walmart?)
7
dt will pardon her along with all the others.
4
Is anybody counting -- all I want to know is has the Trump Administration surpassed the number of liars and cheats on the 1919 White Sox team yet?
6
Hope Hicks was a child playing about being an adult. This article suggests her utter incompetence was skill because, what, she managed to not see her boss impeached while simultaneously dating multiple staff members? Yes. A real role model for women in the pathetic, tattered relic that is the GOP.
12
Hicks' resignation has given me Hope that Sarah Huckabee Sanders is next.
10
I don't know...Sarah seems way too comfortable lying all the time, she probably feels she could also lie to the fibby.
3
A day after she testified? Amazing, how an actual, real eight hour day before a commitee can change your life.
"She has not said what she will do next." Well, that should be an easy one: she will spend the coming days deleting, shredding and burning....watch the smoke from the west wing chimney. Perhaps burning "white lies" will resukt in white smoke, signaling a new leader. "Hope"fully...
12
Trump is no Pope.
1
Resembling a young Melania and with no political experience how and why did Hope Hicks ever get her job with the president in the first place? And what happened at her 9 hour interview to make her resign? Is she up for indictment?
9
Another block removed from the Trump Jenga tower.
9
Are her "white lies" like alternate facts. Is her line about white lies another white lie? Pursuing opportunities might involve working hard at staying out of jail. Lies in this White House are the sad norm.
5
There are no "white" lies or "black' lies. There are just lies. One is not less a liar because they lie about little things.
3
I would bet any money that Hope Hicks was the female Trump staffer that plagiarized Michelle Obama's speech during the campaign. You know, the one where Melania Trump literally spoke the exact words that Michelle Obama spoke. Because we were told by the Trump campaign that despite this "honest error", the female staffer would not be fired. It was just an honest mistake. RIght.
11
Gee, is it only a coincidence that Ms. Hicks has decided to resign only a short time after her boyfriend, accused of abusing two(!) former wives was forced out of his White House job?
Methinks not!
5
Another embarrassing statement by John Kelly who said Ms. Hicks "has served her country with great distinction." GREAT DISTINCTION??!! This is a woman whose previous qualification was working on Ivanka's clothing line; who crafted a statement defending her "fella," serial wife abuser Rob Porter; who admitted to the House Intelligence Committee that her job required her to tell "white lies" for the so-called president; and whose most important qualification was her willingness to steam Trump's trousers while he was wearing them. On second thought, maybe Kelly is correct to declare "To say she will be missed is an understatement." On the other hand, I bet Devin Nunes will be more than happy to take over the steaming responsibilities.
14
What else is new with this motorized revolving door at the WH. You don't even have to push it to throw you out. You can't amass a greater group of incompetents, abusers, thieves, liars, and traitors try as you might simply because most people have a sense of decency and of doing what is right for America. These people are in this for themselves, to leverage their positions in the WH to make tons of money. They could care less about selling our country out to the Russians or whoever pays the most. No sense of honesty, patriotism, or for upholding the rules and laws of our country, and no care whatsoever of doing the right thing for the nation. All this because the guy that sets the standard for indecency, lying, and dishonesty sits in the Oval Office. No other President has ever allowed our nation to plunge into such a disgusting state. None.
7
I have no pity for anyone that was willing to stay with this treasonous group. She knew. She lied. She'll pay.
10
Hicks is the latest person Trump has thrown under his buss. So many people around his administration are in line, he barely has time to work out more was to please Putin.
2
So, does this get to be Kelly's presidency with some crazy person wild Twitter on the side now ?
1
First Kelly Conway introduced us to "alternate facts" and now Hope Hicks tells "white lies". Trump administration, these are all lies. Please stop lying to the American public.
6
(Hope Hicks) has not said what she will do next.
Probably look for a country without a extradition treaty to emigrate to.
3
Better charge her before she absconds.
1
Why don’t they just call the WH Communications Department the Lying Department? And isn’t it semantically coincidental that Communications and Communism are so intertwined?
4
Another short lived and utter waste of our tax payer money. The total lack of qualifications of Hicks, her boss and MANY cabinet members should trigger a national debate about the prerequisites for voting. Basic knowledge of history? Of politics and social sciences? Everyone needs to pass a test to drive a car, why not for voting?
Never again should we have such a corrupt and utterly incompetent White House like this again. Never again should Americans be so duped into voting for such pathologic liar and sociopathic crook as our president.
4
"Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for Melania Trump, was an early campaign press aide, and the president is fond of her, raising the possibility she could play a role with the West Wing press office."
"Fond of her" is the criteria for a role with the West Wing press office? I hope this is the NYT editorializing and not a fact - but knowing Trump it probably is.
8
A common lying tactic is to admit to a small offense hoping to get away with a larger offense. In this case 'white lies'.
6
The Trump Show.......Season 2.....Episode 3.......Beware! The Ides of March
6
What is Hope Hicks security clearance status?
7
She also had "no words" for the House Intelligence Committee. other than a few "white lies". LOCK HER UP!!!
5
'Reality television, here I come!!!'
-- Hope Hicks, fashion model, PR intern, former 29 year old 'senior' White House staffer
5
Good for Hicks to get out of that toxic cesspool in the White House. Imagine trying to cater to such an unhinged, vile old man every day to keep him happy.
For Trump to berate Hicks (How could you be so stupid?) after her years of unparalleled loyalty... it must have been the final straw. She'll probably need treatment for PTSD.
I almost feel sorry for her....almost.
1
Your next Fox "News" anchor.
7
Perhaps another beauty contest where the winners and runners up would fill these White House and ambassador vacancies? Who needs 20 years of experience or a PhD ? As long as they are good looking , nobody notices anything else. Anybody miss Mitt or John McCain yet ? how about W ?
10
I imagine she'll write a publicity revenue enhancement vehicle (or PREV), sometimes mistakenly referred to as a book, describing how during the campaign she steamed Trump's pants with him still in them. It can go on the same shelf as the one detailing Trump's fast food binges.
7
I feel sorry for her parents. I heard they were shocked when she first went to work for this man a few years back. The knew NYC well enough and the players playing there and Trump was anathema to their corp values.
Lesson Here Sailors: Listen to your elder shipmates! They've been on board long enough to know where the exit hatches, life jackets and life boats are and they know who the drunk crewmen are. They can also smell icebergs coming before you can see 'em.
15
Imagine Bannon and Priebus and Manigault and Hicks and Spicer and Walsh and Flynn and McFarland and Sifakis and Porter and Dearborn and Cordish and Bremberg, not to mention all those hired after Trump’s inauguration who have since left — getting together like Trump U. alumni and publishing their collective yearbook.
How many volumes would that fill? How much would the entire set cost?
Now, imagine how much money they'd make to cover their legal expenses.
5
I might even request it from the library!
2
Now she can join the cast on The View.
12
I think if you look at any administration there is a fair amount of comings and goings (President Obama had 5 chief of staffs) - what is noteworthy about the Trump administration is that people leave related to criminal activity/ malfeasance (eg. Flynn, Porter, Hicks, Price) or total ineptitude (Priebus, Spicer) or complete inexperience (Bannon, Scaramucci, Omarosa). Personally, I can't take four years of a "learning curve" - our only hope is to take congress away from the GOP.
13
Why is Hope Hicks described as “former model” rather than SMU graduate or public relations specialist? It seems to say that she is just a pretty face and that is the only reason she was in her job.
5
Well, Duh....
5
Ya think?
5
Bingo!
1
The reason Trump trusts Hope Hicks is because she owes her entire political career to him. People like Trump, who value loyalty above anything else, even competence, always recruit like this, so they can say, "You are nothing without me."
14
Hmmmm, three years with this circus... very possible that she knows where some, if not all, the skeletons are hidden.
10
She may have been a valued muse to a colorful celebrity in the past, but as we've seen with the Mooch, Washington D.C. is no place for dilettantes.
1
"She has not said what she will do next." She will write a book.
3
No...a book will be written FOR her with all she wants to tell, then she will add her name to it, and it will sell a million copies.
I hate that really good, talented writers have such a tough time getting published while celebrities "write books" all the time and make big bucks from doing so. Now if a celebrity has writing talent and actually writes their own books, that's a different story.
1
C'mon, man. She's got Faux News written all over her. Good looking, vapid and loyal to their deplorable cause.
1
Anyone who touches or is touched by Trump does not turn into gold.
8
Does anyone not limp away, bruised, battered, and having sold their soul, from Donald Trump after entering his circle? And yet, they still praise him in public, despite their own humiliation, loss of jobs, etc., by this man. I do not understand the effect this obviously awful man has on some people.
5
So this 29-year-old former model who knows how to babysit Trump is the reason for the hole the Republicans just blew in the deficit?
Okay. Sure, that makes sense. History will blame it on her. No problem.
Boy, Kelly has learned how to churn out horse digestion byproducts, that's for sure. I hope the Marines aren't as messed up as this outfit he's with now.
6
Her praise from Trump is merely warranted because for him "she gave her all."
1
Notwithstanding her age, lack of experience and likely complicity in criminal acts, by all reports Hicks was a somewhat moderating force on the president. With her gone and Mueller inexorably bearing down on this WH, we had better all hope that the Distractor in Chief does not decide that it’s ‘finally time someone found the courage to deal with North Korea’. It would be a crime against humanity if Trump’s unbridled narcicism led to the death of hundreds of thousands of people.
5
Honestly I was surprised she didn't leave to support her boyfriend who had to resign because of what he two ex-wives were saying about him being abusive. I found it interesting this morning a Republican was calling for the house to end its Russia investigation because Democrats had leaked her comment about telling white lies for trump. Wow really, how come he is not speaking out about all the leaks that keep coming from a Republican White House. I myself am all for the leaks, its the only way American Citizens can learn some truth.
8
Now Mr Trump. In your search for a new Communications Director, what was it that attracted you to the 29 year old with little life and zilch political experience?
8
If not for her beauty, she may not have had much influence at all. After all, Trump has all the depth of a tea cup. Trump is known to swing out of control around women he finds attractive. Ultimately, just another sordid chapter in the Trump saga.
12
She's a glorified department manager at a fancy mall anchor store who made good because of her good looks and poker face. Is there a female equivalent for Peter Principle? Honestly, if she spent some time exploring her predilection for bullying, abusive men instead of so called "career opportunities" I'd have more respect for her.
16
After hearing the congressional questions, her lawyer probably explained to her that she may be considered part of a conspiracy to obstruct justice if she stays in the White House.
11
These days, whenever I see Hicks et al. parading in front of flashing cameras on their way to who knows where, all I can see are perps walking into their prison cells.
Lock them all up, and get the Democrats in to, once more, clean up another colossal Republican mess.
Except this time, let’s keep the Democrats in, and let it split into competing factions that at least agree that a data-based empirical reality exists but merely disagree on how to solve challenges, while watching Republicans slither into oblivion, never to be heard from again.
There is no place in this nation for the Trumpian mindset.
12
Of course she lied; that was her job. Does the Prince of Lies surround himself with truth-tellers?
10
The notion that a 29-year old with zero prior relevant political experience has been one of the most powerful people in the WH for a year chills me to the bone. Trump obviously liked her because she was a formal model. Guess good looks were what it took to be a major confidant of his.
Sadly for her, the spotlight will no longer be on her and her abusive boyfriend (and former WH insider), which may free him up to resume his abusive behavior.
6
Trump loved her because she was his personal servant and catered to his every whim. I hope she NEVER tells her story...it would be a setback for womankind.
3
What, we're supposed to imagine after getting grilled for nine hours by the Mueller team Hicks went home and while doing her nails decided to quit Trump Inc. and move on with her life? Hardly. She got verbally pummeled by Trump for the white lies admission, broke down and on the advice of her lawyers, because of what they gleaned from Mueller's grilling of their client, knew she had to allow them to inform Trump's handlers she was resigning.
12
She testified for eight hours before the House Intelligence Committee, not Mueller's team. But either way, I agree the experience probably led to her decision to resign.
1
"Planning on leaving for a while" Yeah Right. It was only a matter of time that her lack of experience and ego would bring her down.
4
Just like any good game show on TV. Hopeless Hope has now opened Door #3 and there was .... What prompted the President to dump her now? More on this story in the coming days...
2
One step closer to Mike Pence as President.
DJT will not serve out his 1st term.
2
I hope you're not trying to cheer us up.
2
How is it a 29 yo Public Relations trained journeyman ever got to the right hand of POTUS? Oh, wait. I think I remember reading Hope met POTUS's daughter at a invitation only superbowl party as a tag a long with her well healed and connected father. How ironic Ivanka befriended her, perhaps checking off all the requite boxes of employ: more beautiful people to surround her dad, so given a job at Trump Tower, was no surprise. More strange is the fantastic speed she was recruited to work with The Donald's presidential campaign, becoming "part of the family". Talk about optics? A single young beauty queen becomes indispensable to him and is glorified in to her skill juggling affairs with all the men in her life plus her adopted grandfather. The entire Trump enterprise, aka, The Romanoffs, end time is near.
5
Trump has now had more communications directors than he has had wives.
18
This is the person who had to be warned that Russians contacting her by e-mail might not be who they seemed.
Yeah, I have no doubt that she was considering leaving before. But I also can't help wondering if many hours of questioning suddenly made her see the depth of the swamp she was involved in.
21
We will miss Hope and the hope that she has quietly brought to a grateful nation. There are no many level-headed young people in government right now and we need people of her expertise, character and caliber. We could always count on Hope to keep the Ship of State running and ruddered correctly for as long as she has been with Mr. Trump and then with President and through his first year in the White House.
Too much media has criticized this Admin and White House in comparison witrh what has taken place before in American History. The point is that America and its History changes and it is well past time and about time that we have a radical President and Administration that shakes up the nation on a daily basis. That is what President Trump said he would do and that is what he is doing. No one should be surprised at the various actions, orthodox or unorthodox of this Administration. For once we have a President who is his own man. He is the BOSS and he won't be bossed around by Congress, SCOTUS, the Pentagon, State, etc. Mr. Trump is the man Americans voted for to lead us out of the malaise of the Obama Administration years. If he can make my life better in 4 years, more power to him!
1
Wow....I am overwhelmed.
2
But he won’t, and you’ll still love him with all your heart. You’re as tragic as the “presidency” is.
2
No doubt she was largely selected for her appearance, not experience. It's always striking to me how people around DT are tasked with anger management. This is all such a sad state of affairs for our country.
21
Wait a minute. This may be a lovers' tiff. She is not leaving yet. He may ask her to stay. She will say : " if the president asks you to serve the national interest I cannot possibly turn him down. I'm looking forward to serving him again. Thank you everyone for your kind wishes."
5
Given Trump dealings with women, actual, accused and self-confessed, what are we to make of his relation with HH. All his assertions of her qualities are unproven, apart from being good looking and well dressed as befitting a former model. Though she occupies a very high office, until she actually resigned, we have no proof or evidence whatsoever of her skills. Why are those skills hidden from the public ? Just asking.
17
A communications director who never communicated.
Pretty good gig.
1
White House staff are departing in droves , one a week just like the apprentices on that reality show.In some cases Mr Trump can declare "you're fired" and in other situations people take stock and realize " I better get out of here before I sink with the ship".The chaos in the White House is shocking- who else runs an enterprise this way?
16
There have been so many communications gaffes in this administration that it is very hard for me to believe this 29 year old was good at her job and "wise beyond her years."
22
Once again, the formula for personal disaster (no government or legal experience plus unquestioning loyalty) has claimed a victim. Ms. Hicks, for all her intelligence, charm, and well-meaning desire to help her boss, has enmeshed herself in an ugly and dangerous trap. She can run (and I don't blame her), but she can't hide from the inexorable consequences of her actions.
Mr. Mueller will capitalize on her mistakes, and she will have to come clean or possibly face a criminal indictment.
A disturbing consequence of her resignation is that Trump and her staff will be left without the person they trusted to help keep them safe. If you think the White House is chaotic now, just wait! Conceivably, the president will become even more isolated, uncontrollable, and desperate than he already is, and the poor inkstained wretches on the communications staff will be adrift and terrified, which does not bode well for them being able to (or even wanting to try to) do their jobs.
Watching all this is a little like being on a nearby ship and seeing the Titanic go down. Expect more ship-jumping real soon.
8
Actually, it's more like "Sink the Bismarck" than Titanic.
Hope found that all that "winning" can get a little exhausting after a while.
7
The entire Trump Administration with their lies, corruption and incompetence need to leave town. Go home, all of you!
22
A liar who admits they lie.. progress
32
No mention here of what CNN reports -- that Trump was angry with Hicks and asked her "How could you be so stupid?" -- which any employee might find offensive, as well as intimidating. I suspect the story that she had been planning to go anyway is cover. Looks more like she snapped. Either that or she left on advice from counsel.
40
Admitting to "white lies" is an automatic personal invitation back to have another chat with Mr. Mueller.
Trump realized she was not going to continue lying for him.
1
How do you solve a problem like Hope?
How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?
A fibber jibbet, a willow wisp, a clown?
14
What will Hope Hicks do next? My money is Fox News....
20
Bring back "The Mooch".
6
Is "white lies" anything like "alternate facts"?
42
Hmmmmm.....Wonder when the next bald-faced white liar in this administration will decide to jump ship? Huckabee "ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies" Sanders? Now THAT would be a relief for most Americans!
19
Well, Hope Hicks was no Toby Ziegler, that’s for sure.
77
Hope Hicks stated that she told white lies for Donald Trump. With her foot in her mouth she broke ties with the White House. Those damning e-mails she spoke about might come back to haunt her.
6
A stunning development. Simply stunning. Who will replace Ms. Hicks in this role? Who can match her in qualifications? The best and the brightest are slowly being peeled away from the Trump White House. An administration that began with such potential for hope and change is becoming one of has-been mediocrity. I am certain President Trump will find a suitable replacement, he always does. As for Ms. Hicks, she was a long life ahead of her, in which she will become as successful as the man for whom she once worked. Like Trump, she will triumph triumphantly. Thank you.
8
Hooray! A beautiful woman close to Trump who does not have a story of extra-marital sex with the guy. She's loyal to him, and to the guy she's dating whose wife appears in a vacation photo with a black eye. There are plenty of 'successful' men who want a beautiful girl Friday around for distraction. Not too bright, perfectly coiffed, showing a bit of leg. Happy to tell a lie. What a patriot. She'll go far. Team of traitors, hustlers and grifters. If her future success is based on loans of laundered rubles, walking away from debts, and dealing with mafia types, she's trained in the right place.
35
"Triumph triumphantly"? Good Lord. I think Ms. Hicks saw the writing on the wall and got the heck out of dodge. If she's lucky, the flotsam and wreckage from Trump's presidency won't haunt her for the rest of her life.
4
The Times keeps referring to Hope Hicks's testimony that she was required to tell white lies without putting "white" in quotes.
I don't like to see a news organization give the appearance of recognizing the existence of white lies as a category of falsehood, at least where people in government are concerned. That conceit is for children, and for adults when they're justifying dishonesty in private affairs. It was surprising to see that Hicks herself had used such a term in testimony.
A communications director should be expected to understand that the only available categories are truth, evasion, and deafness.
28
Thank you. I believe Mueller will not differentiate between so-called "white" lies and plain lies.
2
This seems more like a firing than a leaving -- but either way it's terrible for Trump. Even an inexperienced communications person knows about "optics", and these are the worst optics imaginable. The question is, what would be so damaging in her staying that either she had to be fired or had to flee at this time?
6
Impeach Trump NOW so he can't pardon the parade of criminals coming in and out of the current administration.
Looks like Hope will sing to save her skin. It will eventually be a large chorus that Mueller has to work with.
16
The Trump Administration is now hemorrhaging staffers and swarmed by scandals. Thank God for the civil servants that keep chungging at their jobs to ensure government still functions. That's one thing Putin underestimated in sowing chaos in our election.
21
She had the gift of being able to lie selectively, only telling “white lies” according to some undoubtedly secret criteria. I absolutely believe she told only the truth about whatever looks good for trump.
I’m sure she will find a comfortable, lucrative niche outside politics, wherever integrity and decency don’t matter. Any number of republican high-rollers will welcome her with open arms.
15
The Mueller investigation, even the Senate and House's...are showing how little the Trump camp wanted to win, thought theyd win...as they all expected to have already gone off to better paying, less legally incriminating jobs. Hicks likely expectingto follow Trump to a TV slot, or a world tour of ranting appearances. Where her naivete and immaturity, and lack of experience in actual communications and important message crafting would serve her well.
I heard reports Scaramooch was seen lurking outside the WH gates.
I wonder what Sarah Sanders is gonna call her lies?
5
The departure of Hope Hicks is a significant loss with potentially major ramifications - not because this 29 year old former model and English major with no political or policy experience had anything substantive to offer as a senior adviser or communications director, but because trump has lost his nanny.
By all accounts, she, more than anyone else, stood between the moody, impulsive and irrational man-child and potential global disaster. As the imminent departure of Jared and Ivanka seems more and more likely, it is imperative that someone else assumes that herculean task. Mary Poppins, where are you now?
25
The incompetence of the team of the president. Truly so. Yet, not as disturbing as the competent snakes in, say. the administrations whose teams lied through their teeth to the public about the Vietnam War during those tragic times. This is just the "farce" version of the earlier tragedy as someone once said.
1
Considering the amount of time I spend late at night reading the latest chapter in the Trump mystery/spy novel, I don't know what I'll do with myself when we're governed by boring, competent public servants again.
189
As many will probably state, you'll be sleeping soundly instead of staying up late. Here's more to a healthier we.
4
I prefer to just read it and not live it to be honest.
3
Just when I am feeling hopeful in our society I read this. All I can do at this point is put my head in my hands as I think, how long before the world as we know it collapses under the weight of this President. Better I listen to music.
5
Many years ago I was attending a bustling little church uptown in Inwood. One Sunday some tall guys in suits came in to encourage the congregation to support conservatives. Some church leaders might still insist that this was a temptation they should not have been led into. The left co opted congregations on the other side as well. Meanwhile, school shooters suggest that even the youngest harbor demons nothing short of pacifying drugs can mitigate, if they ever do. Not that this seems a direct link to the fact that Hope is gone.
She is leaving because her attorney told her it was in her best interest to leave. No one admits to telling a lie while while employed as an advisor to the President unless there is a plea bargain being drawn up. She is compromised in someway and needs to distance herself from the perpetrator.
22
A fascinating aspect of the Hicks situation is that she is lawyered up on the uber-premium side. Trout, Cacheris is about the gold standard these days, along with a very few others. (The fellow in the green tie is Bob Trout; the Cacheris is Plato Cacheris, whose defense clientele ranges from John Mitchell to Fawn Hall to the three most celebrated double agents in the last few decades: Ames, Hanssen and Montes).
One would think in this extreme seller's market for defense counsel in DC that the premium jocks would all have been spoken for by now. One wonders therefore if she retained Bob Trout long ago...
18
Maybe her security clearance didn't come through.
5
From "Fire and Fury, Inside the Trump White House" by Michael Wolff:
"The relationship of the president and Hope Hicks, long tolerated as a quaint bond between the older man and a trustworthy young woman, began to be seen as anomalous and alarming. Completely devoted to accommodating him, she, his media facilitator, was the ultimate facilitator of unmediated behavior. His impulses and thoughts--unedited, unreviewed, unchallenged--not only passed through him, but, via Hicks, traveled out into the world without any other White House arbitration.
"The problem isn't Twitter, it's Hope," observed one communication staffer." p. 259.
13
Perhaps she and others who recently left are concerned that if they remained in the White House, they might engage in conversations with other personnel who are wearing "a wire" for the Special Council. Some things are best left unsaid?
3
For someone so young and with the advantages she was born with and the privileged upbringing she was given, why she would hitch her wagon to these people is beyond me. Were I her mother, I'd be appalled.
22
Read this report on Hicks. Note how insular the White House appears. Note how personal the relationships between its members and how easily a NY Times report can represent the personal nature of White House relationships. I never saw anything like it with other Presidential White House relations -- except maybe in post Presidential memoirs. Maybe I just missed this sort of reporting of people and relations in previous administrations.
But what it signifies to me is a lack of professionalism, callowness, and an inattention to broader legal and policy precedents in the White House on a daily basis. How does this all end well? I don't see how it can.
144
Excellent observations. Insular is exactly the right word.
This is a situation as toxic as any dysfunctional family and few people in their 20s do well in that atmosphere.
1
The Kardashians at the White House.
2
Some aides in the White House said “Hicks’s decision to leave was unrelated to her appearance before the House committee.” That she apparently “told a small group of people in the days before the session that she had planned to resign, partly because she never liked Washington and chose not to try to pretend to.”
It looks as though she knew she had no choice but to quit after the eight hours session before the House Intelligence Committee, during which she had to answer unpleasant questions about possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia. She couldn’t tell “white lies” and might have said things that Trump didn’t appreciate. After all she had worked for him since Spring 2015 when he started to launch his campagin.
11
Ms. Hicks may be the least experienced person to have held that WH post but she knows very well what's coming. After her lengthy stonewalling under Trump instruction to the Congressional committee she will have to do it all again under oath for the Special Prosecutor. She had better be out of the WH before that happens because she knows she will not be popular after that event. Tell the truth or be charged. This is the major leagues.
127
Yep, we are getting to the 'each for their own' part of it all. Trump is about to discover how little of his precious loyalty there is around
1
One day after getting grilled by the House Intel. Committee, the White House Communications Director suddenly jumps ship. That, plus a yet to be scheduled visit with Robert Mueller, put the approaching calamity into focus for Ms. Hicks. By getting out now she won't have to chose between loyalty to her boss or avoiding prison. She'll be okay, there is probably a position waiting for her at Fox, where she can defend Donald from a safe distance.
78
How can you say "she'll be okay" when Hope Hicks has ALREADY helped obstruct justice? She was instrumental in the false statement they released for WH about Trump Tower meeting with Russians and is on the record as telling WH that the incriminating Don Jr. emails would "never get out"....she's already committed treason, a felony punishable by death.
1
Hope Hicks is the Rosemary Woods of 2018. Let's hope (no pun intended) the next time the crowd shouts "Lock her up!" they won't be at her trial.
28
She chose to be a monkey in this circus so I don't really feel sorry for her. She's too young and inexperienced for the job she was given which seems to me was basically being a yes woman to the world's biggest toddler. She even walked him to his residence each night. But I also think she was forced by Mueller to tell the truth about the "excuse" letter that was written while Trump was aboard Air Force One so that probably has something to do with her decision to leave. Whatever. Just another person in the White House who doesn't know what she doesn't know and shouldn't be there anyway.
107
Monkey?
Even telenovelas pace themselves throughout their run...NOT this Administration.
So, Hope Hicks finally smelt the coffee...well right after her abuser BF Rob Porter's out?! Hmmm...
Ships rapidly sinking and she's reached her stop. Next en route to Mueller's office for a proper one-on-one then book tour?!
This ignominious lot keeps your head spinning.
Good riddance,Ms Hicks!
NEXT!...
60
And we thought he was out of control before she resigned. Just wait.
46
Well, this happens a lot in the final year of a presidency, aides leaving to get cushy private industry jobs. Totally normal as things wind down.
85
This is Trump's SECOND year,not final. Unfortunately.
Final year? He only just entered his second.
You missed the joke..
3
"pursuing other opportunities". Sure, closest advisor to the President of the United States is just a stepping stone to better jobs.
56
Other opps without criminal prosecution...
The President's communications secretary may not have been a big influence on the President but the public will not be allowed to know how difficult it is to stand up to the person it elected.
She's from Connecticut. An SMU graduate. She's gone quite far already. Give the young lady some credit. The President may never have been a big deal but being the most likely to inflame the world of the media is the only reason that the most corrupt politician ever was elected.
3
Sure, so many Connecticut natives go to SMU for a good education! Not!
1
Ms. Hicks had advised Mr. Trump to tone down his Twitter posts or stop sending them.
What is a W.H communications director? Another mystery solved. It's just a glorified job description for President Trump's twitter moderator.
(Disclosure: I support President Trump, and I support his tweeting to us directly without the spin from the biased media.)
1
You mean Fox News ?
1
Being so fair and balanced himself.
White House Communications Director, usually a close adviser working in conjunction with the White House Chief of Staff and Press Secretary. (Think Toby Ziegler, West Wing, one of the president's most trusted advisers until he leaked classified information.)
It won't save you from being compelled to testify and potentially (hopefully) bearing the full brunt of justice for partially enabling this horrid chapter in US history and benefiting. The resignations, oh-so-many of them, will go down together in history as the little pirouette before the handcuffing chorus. Time to reclaim "Lock her up," in this case.
28
Given the timing, I am curious what might be gained from a public announcement of an intent to leave right after her testimony, in which she admitted she told “white lies” and, when asked if President Trump ever asked her to lie, she took a break to speak to counsel, came back, and did not admit or deny that he did.
Then she announces her resignation.
There must be something to gain. For example, can her written communications be deleted if she leaves quickly, before a subpoena is issued? Is there some additional layer of protection against further testimony if she is a private citizen?
I would be interested to hear from lawyers with expertise in this area about the strategic advantage Ms. Hicks might gain by leaving the White House? This timing is so awkward and suspicious there must be something to make it worthwhile to resign.
54
Hicks sees from her time with Mueller where this is all heading. She just leapt from a sinking ship before it's too late.
22
Sorry, but all this litany of her accomplishments (and maybe she did do something good in her time there)- but I can’t get past the fact that the person with an office next to the Oval Office was a 26 year old former model with zero experience in anything valuable for running a country (she did public relations for a Trump fashion line for a couple years out of school...). If I didn’t see it I wouldn’t believe it- This sounds like a joke! I don’t mean to be unkind, but I am truly embarrassed for our nation.
155
You are right, But lets not forget Jarrad, a 36 year old with Zero experience holding one of the most powerful jobs, the audacity of his taking on all those jobs. Its a joke. As for the First daughter, my god how has all this been tolerated?? Visitors logs, Etc.,etc., etc.The First Family buisness, lining their pockets as much as possible before the music stops, and no chairs are left.
This is a WH run by a total cast of amateurs. SAD!
4
Hope's future is bleak, but at least she's perceptive enough to know she's going to need a steam shovel to dig her out of the quagmire she's in. She knows that Mueller has the facts regarding her relationship with Trump. A few white lies won't absolve her complicity. She will be flipped, and not by Trump but by Mueller. Rather than pressing pants at a prison laundry. she will spill the beans to Mueller to avoid prosecution. And if she becomes an escape artist, she will be offered millions by publishers to tell her story.
45
I keep hearing people say how smart she is. Really?
She believed in, and was loyal to Donald Trump. That is not smart. That works out for almost nobody. There was plenty of evidence before she got involved with him, that being involved with him was not a smart thing to do.
She dated a man who was twice divorced and physically abused both his ex wives. That's not really smart either.
She then tried to cover up the episode involving Donald Jr. with the messages about the Russian meeting. One of Trump's lawyers resigned over that, realizing the ethical liability. The lawyer was smart. She was not smart.
She has acted like a stupid fool, got in way over her head, and now she's tangled up in all this trouble. So in the end, what part of any of this shows that she was smart?
170
Hope Hicks has been in the news a lot lately. A new beau. Testifying before Congress. A petulant, insecure boss who demands loyalty and fears betrayal. Couldn't have been pleasant working conditions.
9
Why is it even considered news when a 29 year-old utterly lacking in credentials resigns after making an utter mess of her WH position?
47
Why does a 29 year old former model with no politcal experience even have a WH position? Especially an office next to a womanizing President.
1
The wheels on the bus are falling off, falling off, falling off. The wheels on the bus are falling off, all through the town.
38
She is memorable for her attraction to abusive men--Trump, Lewandowski and Porter.
87
Hope is a precursor to hopelessness. Burnett reported one of Trump's "close allies" told CNN that Trump asked Hicks after her testimony "how she could be so stupid."
33
Another instance of the Peter Principle in action...The Peter Principle was developed by the Canadian educational scholar, Dr. Laurence J. Peter, in his 1969 book "The Peter Principle". Dr. Peter's principle stated that "an employee's inability to fulfill the requirements of a given position that he is promoted to may not be the result of general incompetence on the part of the employee as much as it is due to the fact that the position simply requires different skills than those the employee actually possesses".
Trump and all his hand-picked White House staff all prove the Peter Principle...over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
29
In order for this to be valid, those involved must have some skills to begin with.
4
Eight hours of testimony.
One hour to pack.
49
Why bother with a communications office at all?
Everything they do is obliterated whenever he goes on Twitter.
25
Another high recommendation from Jared and Ivanka who is now out. She joins Bannon, Porter, Flynn, Manafort and others sold by this Dynamic Duo. And no one should forget that Jared is the one who recommended firing Comey. AND, it was Jared who sought out the Russian embassy in the United States as a potentially good place to carry out secure communications with the Moscow crowd. AND, now his security clearance is revoked.
Hicks was in over her head from the start. She was likely clueless of the legal repercussions of saying "those e-mails will never get out." Now, she will need a high-priced attorney to help her in the weeks and months ahead. If she had any common sense, she should have never accepted a job for which she clearly was unqualified. (I guess the same could be said for her former boss too.)
52
oooh I know! Jared's mistakes just keep piling up!! Low quality son-in-law
I wonder if Hicks and Raffel, her deputy who resigned yesterday, are leaving because they expect to shortly be indicted by Mueller. If true, Trump avoids, for the moment, having current White House officials arrested by the FBI in the White House.
I could rhetorically ask "Can you imagine that?"
Sadly, though, the answer is "Easily."
We're already beyond Watergate times 10 with all of this.
35
And another one bites the dust.
She did pretty well for herself considering she started out as an assistant to Ivanka.
I hope she realizes she is still liable for her actions in the Whitehouse even though she will no longer be there.
19
It may be wishful thinking but I think Hope Hicks resignation may mark a major turning point. Members of Trump's cabinet are probably getting pretty nervous. If Trump is forced out he will throw as many people under the bus as possible to save his own skin.
18
It would be sweet if this lightweight Trumpian eye candy becomes a key to his downfall.
31
Right???
1
A 29 yr old model with no political experience. What a surprise! !
41
Add the Jared and Ivanka to the mix.
Meets with the intelligence committee on Tuesday, says nothing and answers no questions, then quits Wednesday...think she’s guilty as sin?
19
Y'all are being way too nice to lil ole (NOT) innocent, (NOT) naive Hope-y.
1. The NYT reported on Jan 31 that ex-Trump spokesman Mark Corallo said she told His Disgracefulness that Junior's emails "will never get out." Those sound like conspiracy / plea-copping-in-exchange-for-testimony words when Mueller exerts pressure.
2. As noted, her prior experience was marketing PR for Ivanka, which job she got through her employer, the delightful Michael Hitzlit, who represented both Glenn Beck and Harvey Weinstein. Her dad did PR for the NFL and her grandfather for Texaco. Her relationship with honesty has been baked in through multiple family generations.
3. Although bad taste in partners isn't a crime, one would think she could've found appropriate men to date. She was romantically "linked to" both the married, reporter-grabber Corey Lewandowski (DJT himself expressed typically demeaning approbation) and Rob "Left Hook" Porter. While we're on the subject, it's clear that DJT hits on all females. She's been on staff since 2014.
4. And finally, with a tip of the hat to another commenter, who does Fox hire? The only way we'll see the end of Hope Hicks is if she's jailed, which she won't be since she'll flip first.
The above notwithstanding, every day in which one of these enablers exits our government is a better day for America. Good riddance.
46
Lessee, will it be 18 USC § 1001 or 18 USC § 371 that tops the playlist?
And no, there's no amount of makeup that will make it all go away.
8
She will be PROSECUTED shortly after she is relieved of duty
6
The announcement of Hick's departure comes right after her testimony before the House Intelligence Committee. Yet the White House states that her leaving has nothing to do with her testimony. Could this be another little white lie, like the one's Ms. Hicks was asked to make by her pathological liar boss? The lies, deceit and deceptions of Donald Trump and his handpicked henchmen and women is just breathtaking in its scope and brazenness. Our surreal national nightmare continues with no abating.
19
Hicks would be well advised to make it clear that she has stored every detail of what she knows within a safe at her lawyers (safer the Watergate safe) and should any 'accident' befall her it will be published.
Another person leaving the crazy train that is this White House. Bye Hope, maybe you can organize a support group or start a club for all of those who have exited Trump's team. I don't think you would have to worry about members joining, get matching t-shirts that say "Just Say No"
5
She could join the already existing' Me too' or 'Time's up' campaign I would have thought.
I have no doubt she will be in NYC soon, looking for a big advance on a "tell all"
book, just like Omorosa. "My Days, Taming Demented Donald, and Romancing the Rejects."
The audacity of hope. Hopeless!
6
Even Hope has left. Justice is scared.
And the three men I admire least.
Flynn Porter and Gates
They caught the last train for the coast.
Bye Bye Miss American Pie.
19
Another one bites the dust! It seems like she has a penchant for abusive misogynists and, as such, had no problems with Trump. But, now she has a problem as Mueller's probe is turning up the heat. Good riddance to another unqualified person in our government!
13
Notwithstanding what comes out in the near future regarding her exit and the suspect timing of it, this seems like Hicks growing a much-needed conscience and getting out of that mess before it's too late.
That said, the timing here is very interesting. To resign a day after being questioned by the House Intelligence Committee should definitely give people pause. Trump has seemingly excluded her from his daily whining on Twitter; let's see how long until he casts her in the same light as the rest of his "enemies." The "white lies" comment will not sit well with Mr. Trumputin.
Please let the resignations continue! Please allow this Potemkin Village to fall to the ground and reveal the utter emptiness behind it!
Now, can we please get rid of Kellyanne Conway and Sarah Sanders, too??
Please?
20
And then along comes Pence...
For all those who are giving her a pass because she is only 29, supposing she has been caught up in some kind of Trump ‘vortex’, well, I say you are lying to yourselves and giving her a pass because she is poised and nice looking.
But while she has been somewhat(?) successful in her role, still she’s among the least qualified in this administration (and that’s saying a lot). Really, Hicks is a snake as much as the rest of the bunch.
28
According to Kelly, Hicks “did a tremendous job overseeing the communications for the president’s agenda ” Yeah, now about all those tweets....
9
The scenario I see is that Trump flipped out over Hicks's white lies testimony yesterday. He gave her a royal dressing down and she decided that she had enough and quit.
Mueller now has a golden opportunity to flip Hicks. She knows a lot from campaign, transition and current presidency and can be the one who helps tie things together bring him down.
GO TEAM MUELLER!!
28
She knows too much. Trump has told her too much. He couldn't resist.
16
Stop fawning over Ms. Hicks. Pretty on the outside doesn't mean pretty on the inside. She has been serving Trump for years and is as guilty as the rest of his gang.
41
She needs to be compelled to testify for Mueller. Hope has either knowledge of, or participated in crimes against the government. She is as guilty as Trump who will be outed eventually as the cheap, sleazy huckster that he really is!
12
I'm stealing this but too good not to repeat:
"This White House is now officially Hopeless".
14
A mere child, unable to operate in a world for which she was never prepared.
As for judgment... well, she's dating that fellow who beat his ex-wives.
Enough said.
14
will she have to testify under oath to Mueller?
2
She has already been questioned by Mueller's team. It does not matter whether she was under oath - lying to a federal special counsel investigator is a felony even if it's not sworn testimony.
I wonder whatever could have made her leave such a career-boosting role?
5
We all share the same thoughts: an administration that is truly dysfunctional and incompetent and to some extent malevolent and all this in very very dangerous world. Whoa...Kiss your kids or loved ones and hope this all turns out alright.
5
It's officially the Truman...I mean The Trump Show...only who needs network television when the whole world is a stage?!
"Her resignation came a day after she testified for eight hours before the House Intelligence Committee".... Maybe she got scared that everyone outside of the Trump administration isn't playing?
5
"Served her country with great distinction"? A rich, spoiled 20-something with no, and I do mean zero, experience advising the president and lying for him to boot? That's distinct all right. And exactly what are "white lies"? I thought those expired when you left middle school. The incompetence, inexperience and lack of character of the people surrounding this president stun anew every single day.
36
Of course she has been asked to resign, I don't believe the hype for a minute. She outed Trump's dishonest ways, white lies, or whatever color you want to describe his mendacious ways. She had to go. That line is very bright for DJT Loyalty is first to The Don
7
Once they eachrealise that Mueller knows the answer to every question he asks - they fold and flip to avoid jail.
2
So she testified that she lies for her boss....and then quits the next day. Totally unrelated.
20
Outstanding talent, with a great portfolio of insider knowledge. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. PUHLEESE, they Must be kidding ME! I believe the White House communications has been pretty awful under her watch . Another incompetent to leave the White House. They should put a revolving door at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the way people come and go.
9
Hope Hicks looked like a model, dressed like a model, and clearly wanted to be seen as a model. Now she is one, one of the used directors of communications.
6
John Kelly: "To say that she will be missed is an understatement.” It's also a lie.
21
Good riddance, liar. You will NOT be missed by the majority of us Americans who expect to hear the truth from the Executive Branch.
And that's no lie.
Good luck in your next venture with Trump. I'm sure you'll make a great reality show contestant.
13
In presidencies, some staff leave at the end of the first term. This is the end of Trump’s first year. Heartland Trump supporters won’t understand the consequences of that.
“And for a politician who relies so heavily on what is familiar to him, her absence could be jarring.”
Trump supporters won’t understand that.
45
"Ms. Hicks, 29, a former model who joined Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign without any experience in politics, became known as one of the few aides who understood his personality and style and could challenge the president to change his views"
This is what is sooooooo wrong with this administration: folks who have no experience in what they are tasked to do on behalf of the American people (or whose only experience is in OPPOSING what they are tasked to do).
Tumpettes can rail against some imagined "elites," but having experience is not elite, it's a requisite to performing one's job on a yuge scale.
175
No, what this tells you is that any fool can do these tasks as long as they maintain their personal morals. The adaptation to D.C. constitutes a personal betrayal of those standards t too many people.
You should count this as a loss, and a wee bit of an insult for what your party has done to our national capitol.
A communication director that never communicated with the press or the public so what did she do anyway?
140
It’s who she was doing that got her into trouble.
2
Now that she no longer works in the White House, she will not need to consult with staaff when questioned by Congressional Committees. I wonder if she will be invited back.
32
God bless her and hope she has a bright future.
As it now appears with this POTUS - 3 years working for him is like working a life time.
He appears to take no prisoners.
I don't know who wrote that book on POTUS campaign.
But one factoid that has stayed with me was the POTUS demanding Ms Hope to iron his suit in an airplane.
And that too while he was wearing it.
Anyone with that skill is bound to have a bright future.
I was her age at one time and was an enthusiastic volunteer for my Republican Party and many of its candidates.
America would not have many men as POTUS if not for young folks like Ms Hope.
7
Steaming his suit, not ironing it doesn't take much skill.
Completely understandable. Could there be a more difficult job than being communications director for a boss who is incomprehensible, volatile, unfocused, nonsensical, irrational, obnoxious, intellectually challenged, bigoted, misogynistic, and incompetent?
And yet, Hope Hicks deserves no sympathy. If she thinks that quitting will avoid Mueller's scrutiny then she's even dumber than her boss. She knew what she was doing. She knew who Trump was. She lied for him and if there is any justice she will pay for it.
The wheels are coming off Trump's wagon. This can't happen soon enough.
106
Applause! Say more, don't stop. Spot on.
8
I like to think she claimed she couldn't remember only to watch Mueller produce a document showing that he knows darn well she remembers.
50
ah yes, but he only hires the best. Except no one stays.
38
It's a reverse Hotel California: you can't just check in at any time, but you're sure to leave!
1
After spending the last couple of years being tRUMP' s private secretary and getting involved in two unsavory relationships, the poor girl needs some R&R to get her self esteem back! She's been doing a job she was totally unqualified for, so one can only imagine the strain. She should've left when tRUMP said she was the best piece of tail that Lewandowski ever had!
53
Ms. Hicks knows too much about Trump and obstruction. I suspect she was asked to turn her notice in after admitting to Congress she felt the need to tell little "white lies". She will be demoted by the administration as being just the coffee girl or butler once charges are filed against her.
Also, if I read the requirements correctly, she would not be eligible for the Patriot fund for legal services if she had committed any crimes. Well, lies to congress, FBI or Mueller would have punched that ticket. See Flynn, etc. for previous indictments for lying. Ms. Hicks is going to be the next nothingburger to flip.
37
What's the deal with everyone's obsession with the Mueller investigation? You are all aware that if Trump were impeached we'd get President Pence, who would be even worse, right?
23
Not “even worse”. There’s no such thing as worse than this president. But just as bad, yes.
9
You are so right that we don't want a President Pence. The best strategy going forward is to keep Trump spinning his wheels until he and Pence are given their walking papers in 2020. Grabbing at least one House of Congress will go a long way to rendering him impotent.
8
Or it could invalidate the entire election and administration.
1
I believe the phrase most commonly used is, "She wanted to spend more time with her family."
27
Before she goes to prison.
She has already been caught. Her part in the erasing of the emails- that obviously unbeknownst to her cannot be erased- and the distortions about the purpose of the meeting with Russians at the Trump Tower leave her with two choices: doing a 180 and cooperate with Mueller or spend the middle years of her life in a women´s pavilion. Although nobody is privy to the answers and questions going on in Mueller´s interrogation room I would think that she has already taken the first option
44
Trump is trying again to replace Sessions with someone to steer Mueller away from Trump's Russian financial ties thru Deutsche Bank.
And now I guess there's no Hope...
20
Wondering what Rob Porter’s influence might have had on her decision?
14
I've always thought Mr. T liked having her there because she's so pretty. That's the only qualification he cares about, other than "loyalty" and being another billionaire.
57
Hopefully Trump will have to close the door behind himself in 2020 when he is the last person to leave this shameful presidency.
30
I prefer my entertainment from entertainers just as I prefer my lawmakers, representatives and other officials to have the education and experience to make solid decisions. I am tired of watching the negatively rated The Who House escapades on the news rather than a comedy channel and hearing the presidents boo-hoo blues. I don't see anyone that is qualified to be representing the country and the already short list keeps getting shorter by the mass exodus fleeing prosecution in this administration. Barney Fife is far more qualified.
28
Or Otis Campbell.
Here’s a different take on her departure. She’s from a wealthy Connecticut family and I’m betting there were some serious discussions with her parents, their lawyers and her own lawyers to get out while she could and hopefully avoid some serious legal jeopardy.
I’m not a lawyer but I am a mother and grandmother and that would be my advice!
87
That was my assumption as well. It's always fascinating to see the ways people can be corrupted and go along with powerful forces, yet, there is still a line at some point.
13
Yeah a line - like - 'While it's only hurting other people it's fine but when it begins to look like it's hurting me I'm off.'
5
How about Porter? I suspect that he is quite the narcissist and he views her as a trophy he could take from the administration....an art of revenge. She is a good catch for him. She will be paid millions per year by Fox or some other network.
She has been closely linked to Trump through the campaign and first year of the administration. As communications director, she has been heavily involved, if discreetly, in protecting the Trump Family, which is another way of saying obstructing justice. She probably knows the full story about the Family. She will sing to avoid imprisonment, so Trump will probably pardon her to encourage her to remain silent.
31
As Rome burns and Trump fiddles, another person in the "inner circle" leaves... She probably didn't contribute much in the way of scholarly advice that a person would seek out and really came down to a compromise of either leaving with some dignity or be forced out at a later time. Everyone knows that her testimony yesterday and resignation today is linked and not a mere coincidence, but she can hedge saying she had planned to leave months ago...
24
As a 29 year old maybe she legitimately wants to start a family.
Or maybe she's feeling the heat and decided to enjoy her free time before Mueller starts going after Trump's inner circle. Besides, what's loyalty worth on a one-way street?
16
"Like sand through an hourglass - so goes every member of Trump's team." Our once great Democracy has succumbed to the daily drama of a Trump reality show. As a soap opera does not fail to entertain - as a working government it is an utter failure.
42
The last time the office called me to a meeting I said I would up in a minute, it actually maybe took four. Perhaps I should resign too. These are litigious times we live in, worse maybe than Judgement Day.
None of these people are qualified for their jobs. That's the point isn't it?
47
Does she know she is leaving the "protection" of Executive Privilege?
Things must be pretty bad for her to do that.
Wonder who her lawyer is? Did he study law at Trump University?
13
I would imagine that on any issues for which she might claim (or Trump invoke) executive privilege, she will be able to cut a deal with out the pain, agony and expense of a defense. And any fair-minded prosecutor would agree to the time she served in the administration.
Think she's going while the going is good . Smart enough to know the taint of his administration will stain her ; enough that she admits to telling white lies for you know who and not good for her portfolio . Would venture to say she was probably on the fringes and not too implicated . Time will tell .
19
Our government is imploding. How droll, yet so welcome.
33
Business as usual and you know, Trump just may follow up on some of those campaign pledges when he chortled words to the effect of, "I alone can do it, I alone can fix it... that's what I do, I fix things." He may soon have the whole place to himself.
49
“I will miss her by my side”.
Oh, I’m sure.
59
Hope Hicks is getting out while the getting's good. Hope is hoping that her departure from the most corrupt administration in history will spare her being convicted of perjury and going to prison. In that respect she may be smarter than I thought. Happy Trails, Hope we don't see you again. Except when Bob Mueller has her turn state's evidence in exchange for a plea deal.
DD
Manhatttan
68
Good luck finding a job Ms. Hicks. Corporations do research candidates and avoid like poison people who admit to lying as part of their job performance and sleeping around with co-workers, and maintaining a relationship with an abuser. She has not handled herself wisely. Trump went in prioritizing "loyalty;" now that he's gotten a taste of what being President is really about, he probably realizes he needs people with some actual skills.
53
I hope Ms. Hicks shows some backbone and now cooperates with Mr. Mueller and his investigators. The only way any of these compromised individuals, (and make no mistake, when you tell little white lies to the American public, you are compromised,) can save themselves is to come clean and own up to their lies and misdeeds.
This disgusting and hilariously inept administration is an American tragedy. The problem is all of us are witnessing the imploding of our government and the erosion of truth and trust in real time. Those of us who've witnessed government at its best, or at the very least, working for the people, know how egregious this disaster really is.
Prison is too good for these people. They're complicit in the ruination of 242 years of hard work, hardship, valor and working for the common good. While they may be a mere sidebar in the history books, they will live the rest of their days as pariahs. Justice will only be served if their conscience haunts them.
122
Great post, but your conscience can only haunt you if you have one - likely not a major concern for this group.
29
Strategic, poised, wise - and complicit.
59
Hope Hicks seems to have done a great job at her various jobs for Donald Trump. Attractive, too. Someone who does their job without self promotion can be a great asset.
But people come and go, and that turnover's good, not bad. I've worked for a few startups over the years, and I was amazed at how the company survived even as people joined and left.
We often got stronger even when a strong person left. Their job had evolved to the point where a new person would do better at what had become a new job. I suspect the same may be true here.
1
The White House is not a startup.
And how she looks has zero to do with competence.
12
The Presidency of the United States is not a “ start up”.
13
The White House IS NOT a turn over job. Krise! Try again.
3
Any chance of prosecution?
24
"When the water reaches the upper deck follow the rats."
H.L. Mencken
93
The irony is that she still has no experience in politics.
There is nothing political about this administration. There had been no agenda, no ideology, no strategy at any point. The administration exists to keep Donald Trump happy and at the center of attention. If anything she now has high-level personal handler experience.
62
She was pushed don’t kid yourself she’s leaving of her own free will.
18
According to people who worked with Hope Hicks, she was well liked and an excellent worker. She was true blue and was like family to the Trump clan. She conducted herself with style and dignity and was very trustworthy. She will probably have a promising career ahead of her at a much more relaxed pace. She deserves much credit for performing a job well done.
4
"...a job well done." ?????
She has admitted LYING to the American people!
2
Interesting graphic to see who has left and who has stayed - the stayers being a distinct minority. Of note, is that family members are still there - maybe it is the inheritance lure?
19
Hope Hicks' announcement that she's leaving the WH doesn't have anything to do with testifying before the HIC. Not a thing. And certainly no-one looks askance at someone who admits they are a liar under oath.
I wish Hope Hicks well with her totally honest career. I'm certain her future employers will find her as trustworthy and as honest as they need her to be.
20
Missed? Only by those for whom she lied. By all the rest of us to whom she lied -- Not!
38
"She told colleagues that she had accomplished what she felt she could..."
She was communications director, the definition of which is: "responsible for developing and promoting the agenda of the President and leading its media campaign."
What is it she felt she accomplished, I wonder?
86
Now Ms. Hope needs a nickname from her former boss.
"Hopeless?"
"Helpless?"
"Hapless," however, has a nice ring to it and captures her predicament. But Trump wouldn't understand his role.
47
Oh, he understands his role, all right.
He just made her promise not to tell.
17
C'mon...one of the "most powerful people in Washington"? Did she say that or is that really your characterization? She was a placeholder, an untrained and inexperienced hanger-on who managed to be invisible enough (until now) so that Trump had no reason to fire her.
176
More to this than meets the eye. I think she’s getting out before Donald loses it completely.
107
Rachel Maddow's show will be highly entertaining this evening. The font on her WH Departures list keeps getting smaller to show all of the names.
I don't know how the news cycle can keep up with this circus.
141
Rachael is like a marathon winner who could collapse after crossing the finishing line. After Trump what can she do. Join the late night comedians in a support group.
4
Everyone who works or has worked for Trump has been scared.
Hope Hicks is but another example. Her resignation is not a coincidence.
She has a problem
103
Just another victim of the Trump nightmare. It's all fine and dandy until the guy you hitch your wagon to wins in a bizarre turn of events, and that guy turns out to be Donald J. Trump. Nobody gets out of there alive - so to speak.
Only thing I applaud about this reality is it looks like Trump's gonna now throw the NRA under the bus where they belong.
About Time!
48
Don't hold your breath about Trump and the NRA. Remember when he said he was for the Dreamers?
9
Methinks that when she testifies in front of Mueller her "white lies" may fall more closely into the spectrum of perjury. As a result, I think that she is anxious to leave before she sees things that will require her to tell more "white lies" to Mueller. "White lies" that will result in her wearing orange, a color that would not look good on this model.
102
I don't see how anyone survives in that hot house of constant hounding by the media of all stripes, 24/7. Leaping on every small word or misstep. As if the MSM lead error-free lives. We all have feet of clay, folks. Sometimes it gets up to the hips. But, the ancient advise, "judge not that ye be not judged, for as ye judge, so shall ye be judged" should be emblazoned everywhere possible wherever judgment is occurring. Our society is sick from the PC disease and Thought Police. 1984 is closer than we think.
United we stand, divided we fall. And we are definitely divided today. On may fronts and levels, especially wealth and vision. And in today's world, where China has just experienced a political earthquake in their leadership rules, Russia is probing free countries everywhere, and the Middle East is in chaos, being divided internally, and from our natural allies, bodes ill for the future. I just hope it doesn't take a major conflict to wake us up. That's what WW II did. Awakened us to our mortal peril. We are there again.
7
The,"...hot house of constant hounding..." is nothing new. The person serving as president of the US is necessarily a focal point every hour of every day and has been for many decades.
The person serving the office at the moment has made a lifetime of basking in public attention. He is getting the attention he dreams of and deserves.
15
If we unite around Trump and this Republican Congress we become China or Russia. United around an oligarch and a dictator. And not a very smart one at that.
9
I know I speak for a grateful nation when I wish Ms. Hicks all the best upon resumption of her modeling career!
121
This is all the very very public stuff folks, but can you imagine what condition our State Department is in? Our Health and Human Services Department? Our Education Department?
And on and on and so forth. We've already gotten a serious dose of how Trump runs a country with this totally amateur and corrupt staff and gutting of the EPA. But it's the damage we won't know about for a year to two that sends me to bed worried sick.
174
The exodus from Trump world continues. Is anyone taking bets on who will leave next week?
20
Trump condemned her with his high praise just a few days ago... this would be laughable if the whole administration wasn't so tragic.
31
Praise from Trump for any underling (I refuse to use any other term for anyone who opted to "serve" Trump) is dangerous.
And such praise, coming from a Finding Nemo-minded Trump, would be no balm on an already-damaged resume.
I hope Hope has a good, dripping-with-Dollars book deal all crystallized, or she has wealthy parents. She will need the money for the lawyers for the next few years.
26
I believe she does have wealthy parents. Isn’t she from Greenwich, Ct?
Is Ms. Hicks the latest victim of the current administration? How will she remember this period in her posterity? Will the country appreciate the damage our political morass is doing to aspiring professionals, such as Ms. Hicks, and the country?
5
The truth about the Trump executive? --Stormy Daniels is the only true professional in the entire motley crowd!
Just see the rats leaving the sinking Ship of State. That's 34% turnover in Trump's oh so carefully selected top advisers and cabinet officials. Much higher than any other president in the last (40) years. And the numbers continue to climb. Scandal piled on scandal. Mediocrity piled on mediocrity. Count the cabinet officials that are not competent to be leading anything much less be entrusted with huge government departments and $ billions in budget and responsibilities. A clown parade. Urban, Environment, Commerce, Education, Health & Human Services, Energy --the tip of the incompetence iceberg. High profile jobs for Trump wedding planner, driver, pilot, bodyguard, daughter, son-in-law, models, TV contestants, pro-wrestling promoter, golf buddies? Nepotism and emoluments violations? Buy an Indian luxury apartment and hear Junior pontificate on foreign affairs.
And how many more are under duress and likely to be leaving in the near future? The wealthy entitled, their vested interests and high opinions of themselves trumping humility and patriotism. What's good for the oligarchs is good for America. Want to get rich quick?...buy a Trump official for what' he's worth and sell him for what he thinks he's worth. And don't look now but Mueller will soon be cleaning house --so many more rats leaving our sinking Ship of State...
71
It will implode. Sad for the country.
6
"She did not say what her next job would be..."
My hope is "star witness."
231
It is better to time your exits while the getting is good. It seems good to this observer. Porter the boyfriend is gone. Trump is crazier by the day and Ms. Hicks has had her exposure to Mueller and committees.
Perhaps in a moment of enlightenment she thought better of this opportunity. I would think the country club life in Greenwich would certainly be a good respite from the craziness in the Trump WH.
When you hear footsteps behind you it's time to re-evaluate and make some of your own.
18
I wonder if she resigned because her security clearance was downgraded.
28
Replacement candidates among the unqualified to serve the unfit are abundant in Trump's orbit. More stunning, in every sense, appointments are to follow. He'll simply convene the covfefe to select the best people to fill the upcoming vacancies in the positions of Hope and Jared. Did he succeed in replacing Omarosa? If not, he can add that one to the search.
Correction -- I just learned that covfefe isn't a White House staffing search committee. According to Wikipedia, as you may already know but I didn't , it's a bill: The Communications Over Various Feeds Electronically for Engagement Act (COVFEFE Act) is a bill introduced into the United States House of Representatives in 2017, during the 115th United States Congress. The bill would amend the Presidential Records Act to preserve Twitter posts and other social media interactions of the president of the United States, and to require the National Archives to store such items.[1][2]... ." Brilliant. Let the Presidential Library thumb drive collection begin.
19
All twitter postings are archived as official messages from the WH.
Some legacy.
It is only a matter of time, maybe just weeks, before Trump is totally alone in the White House. Everyone of Trump's appointees should be lawyering up.
22
Beautiful lede Ms. Haberman. The West Wing is like the movie Zoolander. Those models just “get” each other.
6
Hope was a great asset to the President. Can't but help think that the case of her relationship with the aide who was fired was a part of it. Too bad. I do hope he can hire somebody just as good. No doubt he will.
2
Just as good-LOOKING. That's the primary qualification.
5
If someone admits to lying for their boss could that be called obstruction?
29
Maybe she's leaving, still loyal to Donald, in order to get some type of Trump money for her mounting legal bills. As a WH employee she wouldn't have access to Trump money for these, as I understand it. She can sign on with the Trump Org or go to some made up private sector job sponsored by one of the Trumps. I don't think she's been thrown over or has quit; I see some Trumpian strategery here
10
There’s already a “defense fund” established so maybe she can tap into that... this is such a complete farce...
1
Never underestimate the power of the tabloids. We have the National Enquirer to thank for exposing John Edwards. Now we can thank The Daily Mail for exposing Porter, Hicks and the whole scandal of people without security clearances working in the White House. Doing the stories that the more prestigious press doesn't like to investigate.
20
The truth is in the timing. One day after she's grilled by the House in Intelligence Committee? Come on.
I believe that she's been considering jumping ship for months, but she would never have been allowed to announce her resignation so soon after the interview. Aides would insist that she stay on longer to avoid the appearance of any connection between the interview and her resignation. But out she goes, which means something momentous enough occurred behind closed doors that forced her out. Could it be the "white lies" comment? Perhaps. That, and her poorly crafted defense of boyfriend Rob Porter, demonstrate that she's not nearly as communications savvy as the administration wants to portray her. But I suspect something much bigger was at play, and that Mueller is hot on the trail.
39
She resigns a day after giving testimony - yea, sure - she's been thinking about it for months. Somebody probably told her to lawyer up and go home. The heat is turning up - more proof? Trump supported gun control measures today, trying to look like a good guy.
25
That "support" will last about a day, just as everything he says turns sideways. Pants are on fire...again!
3
but hasn't learned a little bit how hard it is to get things agreed by congress? So 'Oh poor dear Trump tried but congress didn't vote for it' NFA happy , everything back to normal.
1
I do hope Mueller questions her under oath. Shes been with DJT for a long time.
17
If the questions were about what she said, it might be, "I said Merry Christmas once". If it is about what she saw, "Lots of meetings". But the zinger is "what did you hear concerning the Russian connection?" The answer might be "I do not remember." My guess is that amnesty and a lucritive book deal might improve her memory.
8
Here's hoping Hope has a great White House after-life. She tried. She was swimming in whitewater current with a personal ethics code that exceeded the average politician no less the sharks in the Trump/GOP cabal. She was not a good fit but she outlasted and out measured most of them. Get to shore Hope.
4
Hicks couldn't be forthcoming during the congressional hearing--one more person in this unethical administration that thinks they are above the law and disregards our tried and true democratic norms.
It appears that she resigns to avoid her further responsibility to provide truthful information for the public. She certainly knew a lot.
Hicks is a model at her 20s. Her hiring and Trump relying on her alone show what kind of presidency this is.
No President would hire a 20 year old model to be White House's Communication Director. Keep in mind it is never a personal but a governmental position to serve White House.
Most White House staff Trump have hired are not top notch professionals. It seems like his concern has never been for serving the country well but for having people who can be loyal to him even though they are not qualified. Most importantly he may need people to help him hide his wrongdoings.
38
"Historic tax reform" will go down as historic, but not for the reasons Trump & co have deluded themselves into thinking. Party on, like it's 1929!
11
This is a big deal. Who hasn’t resigned or been fired from the Trump administration? Does he have any friends?
4
I think it’s going to get mighty hard to replace all the vacancies, current and near future, in this White House. Who would take the risk, ideology notwithstanding? Next out, Jeff Sessions and/or John Kelly.
8
Just another day at the office for the Trumpsters.
6
Hope is leaving a hopeless sinking boat and like many others turns herself into a witness for the Mueller investigation.
7
Whatever I may think of her and the Admin’s politics, it is pretty amazing (note: that word isn’t an automatic positive connotation word, like how political scandal can be ‘amazing’) in many respects that a former model - so an entertainer of sorts - with absolutely no political experience could position herself in such a powerful, influential way, and be a point-person during a national presidential campaign and early presidency. Again - amazing, in many ways.
13
None of them good ways.
1
Trump likely forced her out after yesterday's testimony, when she admitted she told lies at his behest. He'd see that admission as a betrayal.
16
It's obvious. Her lawyers told her that it's time to bail. She needs to get to work on her personal defense--- a fulltime job. We don't know yet whether she's going to turn state's evidence, but her admission of lying exposes her to legal liability.
We're getting to the endgame in this investigation. The rot in the entire Trump presidency is coming clear. Trump himself is guilty of crimes. We just don't know the full extent of them yet.
25
How will Trump find another really talented (gorgeous) communications director to bring him cookies and willing to lie to make him look good?
10
Longest serving at age 29?
18
So was she the one the who recommended Trump throw rolls of paper towels at the victims of massive flooding?
Great job!
22
Regardless of whatever shallow Trump says, based upon his mo, he hired her as just another pretty face. She'll have no trouble landing on her feet...and she'll end up meeting with Mueller's team again.
13
Could this be a prelude to becoming a Mueller cooperating witness? She does need to think about her future, and orange just isn't her color.
23
Her friends and family hopefully got her to realize the lasting damage she was doing to herself by associating with Trump and Co, including airhead Ivanka. Now she needs to figure out how to pick better men to date! Leaving Trump and Co behind may help with this!
19
Trump mentioned 3 years. My God, it's been 3 years since the campaign started in 2015. We could have another SEVEN years of this.
I miss Obama....
206
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the Trump campaign actually began in 2014 in Moscow.
43
Another Trump appointee - another person with stellar credentials and oh-so-well qualified for the job - joins peacemaker Jared et. al. on the sidelines. Will this merry-go-round ever end . . .
123
My guess is that relevant questions from the intel committee made her think that continuing to lie for Trump was not a good idea.
387
"White lies" are just weasel words to avoid getting trapped when they turn out to be much darker! Oh, I was fooled.....yea!!!
Time to jump ship.
15
So I'm waiting for the "AFTER" portrait - The Trumps and their trusted aides in orange jumpsuits. Will Hope be included?
112
I don’t think Hope Hicks is inherently evil, like the rest of them. I do think she will have regrets and much embarrassment about her behavior, though, when she matures. She is like a lot of the young women who were sexually assaulted by men such as Harvey Weinstein and now years later are beginning to see the damage. I’m not implying she was assaulted in that way, but she WAS groomed.
64
Frau,
I'm not sure ANY comparison to sexual assault is the right way to go. I think I know what you're saying but let's be honest... This young woman chose to board the Trump Train. Dazzled by the wealth and power, she signed on for a full membership, wife-beating boyfriend and all. Do NOT feel sympathy for her.
15
And quite willingly, it would appear to me . . . . yes, I know that's a tacky thing to say.
4
Maybe not a zealot,
but a deeply committed collaborationist.
12
All the kind words uttered by President Trump about Ms. Hicks ("Hope is outstanding..." and so forth) will be short lived. Clearly, any of her truthful statements made to the committee, or in front of Mueller, will soon spark the wrath of Trump (e.g. Bannon and others). She knows that. How could she continue working with Trump? Impossible. Hope Hicks had to go. I'm sure he's already fuming about the "white lies" comment that she let slip out.
106
Folks, you are overthinking this....I think it is simple: Hope Hicks' parents are very educated nice Greenwich people who vote Democrat and moderate Republican. They went along with her Trump career as long as they could. Post Rob Porter, post Mueller racheting up post testimony, they said ENOUGH Hope, Get out. She's a good daughter. She quit.
175
No doubt she can write a book, while she is in recovery at her folks' house in Connecticut. I think you have hit the nail on the head with this comment.
7
Actually that's what I was thinking too, RH. I read an article about them once and although they were aghast at how she even connected with Trump and was pursuing the offer he gave her, they were only as supportive as any good decent parents should be that respect their adult kid.
I think they always knew in their hearts it could/would end bad. Well, she's coming out of that corrupting fog and doing the right thing now.
9
They why isn't she very educated? She's pretty, Trump liked her because she's pretty, and she got a job she wasn't qualified for. Lying when you're working for Trump is easy. Having journalistic integrity is hard.
14
With all the recent departures of late, both forced and voluntary, I wonder these folks have spotted an iceberg named Mueller and decided against rearranging the deck chairs?
81
Hope Hicks earlier acknowledged sometimes telling "white lies" for Trump.
Let's see. White lies are usually along the lines of "That looks delicious, but I'm full," or "that sounds fun, but I already have plans." White lies are not even on the same spectrum as Trump's lies.
Ms. Hicks seems to have a misguided sense of protecting Donald. She might have asked herself whether she should work for a man who needed her crib sheet to remind him how to act like he had a heart when meeting with the bereaved.
139
Lie down with dogs and you get up with fleas. Smart move, Hope!
70
The whole administration is poison. So there is really not one good person there, regardless of what one of the other bad people claims.
59
The timing for her departure is suspect, however I never really thought that she would remain in this dysfunctional White House. Hope Hicks, regardless of her close proximity to Trump, is 29 years old with her entire life ahead of her, why would she want to continue wading through this recklessness.
34
I would be shocked if her resignation announcement is not linked to her testimony yesterday. It’s hard to spin a spinner like me. All of the messaging today is standard commentary in situations like this. I am well-versed in that kind of PR-speak because I write it for clients. “She’s done all she set out to do.” “She’s been planning to leave for some time.” “She’s pursuing new opportunities.” Yea, right. Most likely her boss was not pleased with her “white lies” comment. The timing is just too suspect.
230
I wonder if after she quits she'll be willing to tell the truth?
58
I can't wait to read her tell-all book. I give it 6 months before it's available.
25
Another reputation stained by DJT. Who is next? Kelly? McMaster? Way to go!
18
GA: Kelly stains his own reputation. He has proven to be a liar, a racist...and arrogant, as well.
1
What was that bump? Just a little iceberg. Nothing to worry about.
36
Another member of the revolving door at Trump, Inc. Do we really care?
17
Assuming you're in earnest: Yes, we do! :-) Or so we should. Instability and disorder at the apex of government contaminate our political culture and institutions at large. It's comforting to consider that the President may never see his agenda realized because of the same disruptive ethos that appealed to many in the campaign, but we all have an interest in a government that can...govern. Then, there's the question of our declining international influence and stature. Why did the Russians want Mr. Trump elected? Because they knew he'd be an incompetent bungler, one whose disorganization and impetuosity would keep our government entangled in reality television melodrama, leaving seasoned practitioners of realpolitik to pursue their aims unhindered. And, of course, sensible, sober, decent leaders such as Prime Ministers Merkel, May, Macron and Trudeau have zero respect for our President, an attitude their citizens rightly share. Why should they think otherwise, when he can't even keep his own house in order? But since he represents us on the world stage, the entire country's reputation suffers--which impedes the pursuit of our goals, while encouraging our enemies and both alienating and alarming our friends. I understand that the carnival sideshow called the Trump administration becomes overwhelming. It would be dismissable if it wasn't doing such great harm.
12
Clearly, someone other than dt wrote the president's statement about Hick's departure. It was concise, cogent, and non-repetitive.
65
And it didn't mention how great Donald is.
2
And it didn’t hover her a 10. Sad.
"...and one of President Trump's longest-serving advisors". Did she make it through a year? What is going on with this country and this incompetent ship of fools in the White House?
43
Every thing about this amateur and self-dealing administration is exhausting. Please Mr. President and team, just 1 day, 1normal, relatively smooth day without any cruel tweets, resignations, exposed corruption, lies or scandals?
35
Hope Hicks was blatantly unqualified for this gig, just like the entire White House staff and cabinet. She was good at lying; I guess that was a prerequisite for the job. And her willingness to overlook domestic abuse in her choice for a partner also helped her fit right in. On second thought, she was a good match. I can't imagine which other "opportunities to pursue" would be so perfect for her.
41
I can't wait to eventually find out the full story of what's been going on among the White House personnel. I've never seen a group of people act so blatantly guilty in my life.
57
Hope Hicks was likely just told by Trump that he is going to be resigning himself, so she is now at liberty to leave. Laugh if you want, but Trump's lawyers can no longer lie to him about the inevitable and Trump must finally face the writing on the wall. He is likely working on a deal with Team Mueller to stay out of jail which involves his underlings being thrown under "das bus!"
19
They will be reunited in prison. This is only a temporary separation.
26
Poor baby. Life of utter privilege, and she blows it on the likes of Trump.
50
What could possibly have been the point?
They announced that Hope Hicks was resigning. Okay...they also said that she would remain for an undetermined time that - as they announced - would stretch for several weeks into the future.
Here is how it all sounds to me:
Someday, I Ron, will go on vacation. I don't when. I don't how. I don't where. I don't for how long. I don't know how I will get there. I don't know where 'there' is.
So, whats the point in announcing it?
One thing I do know with absolute certainty:
I can not find one qualifying reason why Hope Hicks is the Communications Director of the worlds greatest nation-state. She doesn't even qualify for the administration of Bozo the Clown - she's never been to clown school either.
So, the point...
I suspect it's all a decoy to distract the Press away from something else.
29
Very good point. Jared Kushner comes to mind. I opened the news expecting to read about Kushner and instead I read about Hicks.
2
What is the yardstick by which we can judge if a WH communications director is good at her job? How well the White House communicates its work and objectives to the People - through the Press and its own direct outreach. By any measure, Ms. Hicks did not succeed. That should be of little surprise - she had no experience and she served a raging, ignorant narcissist who relishes the chaos he sows. Articles about her "poise" are worse than useless, they are misleading. She's attractive and very quiet - neither is a qualification or a quality required for the job.
69
Ms. Hicks better have a good lawyer. She was there during the campaign, the transition, and now in the White House. There is no question she knows about events like the meeting at Trump Tower, and the cover up written on the airplane, and many more things, some illegal, and all appalling,
And there is no such thing as a white lie. A lie is a lie is a lie. Wonder what she said to the FBI? Hope knows, as a former model, that she will not look good in a prison jump suit, and a perp walk is just not that same as the runway.
45
We all need to resist detracting from Hope, simply because she’s such a lovely woman. On a Trump staff. Which seeems to give us our first knee jerk reaction that she’s unqualified and unintelligent. Maybe she does have more intelligence than for which we are giving her credit? Why do I go out on a limb and suggest this? I guess ......based in the the sole reason that she WANTS OUT.
7
Trumptanic Ship is going down.
Women and children, and son-in-laws, first!
55
Good. Another Trumpist LIAR gone.
46
Amazing thing: "Declines" to answer questions for 8 hours after acknowledging a propensity for lying for the President... after extensive discussions with one's attorney; resigns the following day. Self-preservation is a powerful motivator.
89
She will be running for Congress next. I bet on it.
8
"She has served her country with great distinction."
Just how "distinct" her service was, I'm praying Mueller finds out, already knows.
34
yesterday she told members of the House intelligence committee that she lies for the President.
Today's she's forced to resign.
I don't think she should be surprised.
22
Trump says that he and Hope will work together in the future. I might venture that might be in the prison laundry, but that would be presumptuous and illogical. Prisons are not co-ed. Maybe while they're doing community service on parole instead.
26
This is sad, sad, sad. She just couldn't figure out how to stick it out in Trump lyin' world. Sarah Huck figured it out (for the time being) but Hope couldn't. Well, maybe there's hope for her yet (no pun intended). I hope for her sake that she doesn't work together with either Don in the future. Good for her that she stayed out of the lights successfully for more than a year. Good luck and congrats for escaping the swamp.
5
Maybe Trump can hire another person for this job with an actual resume that includes experience in a relevant field, and a college degree in a relevant major. Good looks didn't cut it, did they?
24
I take exception! English is relevant for communications. Otherwise, yeah, she's pointless.
This presidency is pathetic. What does it take to get into the White House these days? Just the bluster and outward show of being rich -- let's not mention that Trump was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Yet the man is so angry about so much being unfair for him. Grow up. What a total loser. There is not one ounce of gratitude, servitude, or empathy coming from this US President.
And then there are the people who serve Trump. While so many people in our country work so hard to improve their lots in life, studying, sacrificing, incrementally working their way up --- especially the immigrants in our country...
There are people like Hope Hicks -- who is a former model with no political experience or knowledge of US Government -- becomes the White House communications director and one of Trump's longest-serving advisers... What kind of advice is she dispensing and from what base of knowledge or experience.
This administration is, as Trump loves to say, "a disgrace."
50
"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."
What on earth has she accomplished? I swear, every last person in the Trump administration is full of it up to their eyeballs.
93
Give her some slack. Who has not done some incredibly stupid things at her age. She can still become a productive member of society. She can do some good in her life.
11
She's 29, not 12, and the last time I checked Conservatives are OK with treating 12 year olds as adults (esp. when they're black and male).
13
She would be a productive member if she would tell the truth about her role in that swamp.
3
Hard to feel sympathy for those who knowingly assisted a completely unqualified, reckless and dangerous buffoon reach the Oval Office. Hopefully she is now beginning to realize the incredible damage she helped to inflict on our country and will do what she can to make amends.
57
Too late. I hope she has a good lawyer.
40
"No words" to express sentiments from the esteemed outgoing Communications Director? Sounds like another poor staffing choice.
24
She is now part of a growing list of the Administration staff that will be spending a lot of their own money on attorneys during the coming months and years.
30
The Trump Organization will foot her legal bills. Trump will see to that.
Sounds like an excellent opportunity for the administration. Since Kushner no longer has a temporary high security clearance, he can transition and add Communications Director to his portfolio. No interviews or vetting needed!
13
Trump could be working with her again immediately if too would just resign.
4
Think about this for a minute.
If you work for a president who lies constantly, you eventually (sooner rather than later) have to lie yourself. No self-respecting person would continue to do that, the allure of the WH aside.
I like to think that Hope has a moral compass, explaining why she kept such a low profile, unlike Spicer and Sanders, who seem to embrace the lying.
I give Hope the benefit of the doubt, and even though she doesn’t need it, wish her well.
8
Hick's will now of course be shopping for that book deal...she needs money to pay for her legal fees. Who knows what she has already told Mueller? She may have already sold out Trump. Whatever happened, she better not have lied to Mueller, or she will be indicted.
12
I'm sure that someone more faster and more clever than I has already said this, but I'll go ahead anyway.
What we have here is a failure to communicate.
18
Enough already! This reality show is exhausting. Time to tune out.
13
It's possible that she is exhibiting a moral compass, and can't pretend to support someone that she knows she may have to testify against soon.
That Mueller guys sure knows a lot.....
Unless she goes to jail, this is a good career move. A lot of comments on her looks here...but she might possibly be the most intelligent non-former-military person in the building.
3
And another one bites the dust.
14
Resigning allows her and her lawyer to cut whatever deal she can with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, which she couldn't do while still serving in the White House. No sympathy from me for the woman who covered up for the wife-beater.
210
Who is going to write his notes for his "listening sessions" now?
The rats are getting away from the Trumptanic.
18
And another one bites the dust.
7
Bet she will be taking a nice long vacation to a country without an extradition treaty
14
Why couldn't it have been Kellyanne?
61
Why couldn't it have been both?! No, make that three - Sarah Sanders, too.
1
You will know if she flipped if she goes to MSNBC. If she didn't she'll be on FOX
24
In a White House full of unqualified people, she was one of the least qualified.
33
I would put it this way: She was one of the most qualified of the least qualified.
8
Get out while you’ve still got any semblance of a professional reputation. Left. Suggest you meet with Mr Mueller and clarify some of those “little white lies” before he drops an indictment on you!
10
Hmmmm...what does she know and when did....?
8
Are "white lies" what white people tell?
And, she does know that Robert Mueller can find and subpoena her no matter where she is or what she is doing? Doesn't she?
57
The work wife is leaving. What will Cadet Bonespurs do?
46
When Hope leaves the White House, you know that Trumptanic is approaching the ice berg. Do family have priority for life jackets over 'loyal' followers?' Pardon me was a phrase heard from those anticipating Mueller time.
9
Why dignify - without quotes - her phrase “white lies”?! She “LIED.” Let those impacted and historians decide if these false statements were “white” or “black.”
Your job is to report on things that are true or false - please resist the Trumpian reality where facts don’t matter and untruths stand unashamedly alongside truths.
19
One more resignation and counting...
7
Ms. Hicks can start over, but the trench she unwittingly dug at the direction of the Orange Monarch is very deep, filled with snakes, and it will take about a decade to see the surface. In the meantime, she will receive many offers to write about her time in the WH.
The hundreds of thousands of dollars she accepts will brighten her day as she climbs the ladder out of the trench. But here are the big questions. Hope, what were you thinking? How could you be so blind?
10
She will be the next to flip. Because clearly she cannot tell the whole truth while the White House is commanding her to use executive privilege. Thus, she had to resign.
And yeah. I'm sure she has "no words" regarding Trump--how do you say the truth about a selfish creep who lauds you as he leads you down the path of mutual destruction?
I was 29 and stupid once too. I pity her.
21
Marty,
See my note below. Same page.
No pity, please. She knew exactly the character of the man she was signing up with.
19
Because we need another fashion model surrounding the president of the United States working in the White House with years of experience in public policy. Hummmmm.....
13
The smartest ‘rats’ always abandon ship first. Another ‘trumpist’ bails out.
7
It is quite interesting how Ms. Hicks decides to resign immediately after appearing before the House Intelligence Committee.
Oh wait, she was planning to resign for weeks.
Best of luck with your book deal Hope. May I suggest the title “Little White Lies: How the Alt-Right Creates the Illusion of Progress by Redefining Facts.”
If you are less ambitious, you can fall back on your modeling career with your own brand: “Little White Lies.”
22
What's that noise? The gong rings again on Capitol Hill. Where is Chuck Barris when you need him?
13
Ah, now she can spend more time with Rob Porter while they both job search. Here's hoping he doesn't take his frustrations out on her.
28
you lay down with dogs don't be surprised when you get fleas
3
One of the countless rats abandoning the listing SS Trump, scampering down the ropes to the dock with hopes of scurrying off to a land where each of them (and everyone else), can hopefully forget this cancerous stage of their personal and professional lives, thankful to see the WHITE HOUSE OF HORRORS disappearing in the rear review mirror.
Hope is just one of the few rats scurrying down the escape ropes in high heels.
And through it all, when not perched on the Golden Throne (Presidential Depends around his ankles, TwitterBlaster Telephone in hand), Our Stable Genius is hitting golf balls off the rear deck of his sinking ship of state.
8
Rats from a sinking ship...
5
She's leaving Hopeless the man she once called a second father. So much for family values. Shameful!
4
He would throw her under the bus the second he could. Watch what happens. He's complimenting her now, but in a few weeks, Trump will be singing a different tune.
3
Admitting your job requires you tell tell 'little white lies," might hinder her prospects for her next job, unless it's for Fox News or maybe she was just market testing the title of her tell-all book.
7
Hicks has some tough decisions ahead. Negotiate a plea bargain, or stonewall Mueller and wait for Trump to pardon her.
Both are lousy life choices but she made a horrible choice when she went all in with this group of criminals in the White House.
7
Telling "white lies" and quitting with a gush of superlative compliments?
I guess this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that only Black lies matter.
8
Ms. Hicks told some fibs for Trump? O.K.? But she's "a truly great person" (ht/DJT). And she's resigning. Who will fill her Red-soled Laboutins? Surely not Aunt Sarah Huckabee Sanders who is not the beloved of the White House press corps. Before the parade passes by, how many more Trumpians will leave the sinking Good Ship Lollipop Mar-a-Lago? Do we care?
4
Two rules for this WH...
1. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen
2. If the kitchen's on fire, and it's getting hotter in there - see rule 1
5
It looks like The White House is now Hopeless
4
Trumpty Dumpty sat (is sitting) on his "wall",
Trumpty Dumpty had (is having) a great fall,
All the king's horses, and all the king's men....
Split!
3
Hope Hicks is now number 16!
Leaving this administration is not news anymore.
Who is staying is the news.
How many liars are left?!
5
The WH is now Hopeless.
5
Ben Carson's redecoration scandal, Jared Kushner's security clearance, the NSA chief's testimony yesterday, and now Hope Hicks. What a trainwreck -- and it's only Wednesday!
1533
Steve: Yes, and seriously, the train wrecks of the week you cite are conceivably connected to his sudden, supposed embrace of gun control.
Yep, keep surprising 'em! Keep the shells moving so most people lose track and throw in a new and shiny ones regularly.
4
Hey, but aren't you tired of all the winning?
The American people are winning. The Left aren’t.
One commentator observed that Trump is a Fabulist, in that he tells stories/fables and believes them. They become in hs mind reality - like attending a military prep school for obnoxious rich bullies gave him superior military insight to professional military.
What an awful bozo.
26
Last call for lifeboats for all passengers on the Trump Titanic !
This ship is SINKING.
216
@Socrates: Or, as former Knick Micheal Ray Richardson once famously remarked of his bad team, “the ship be sinkin’.”
3
The Trump administration is bursting it's seams with "little white liars" just like Ms. Hicks. I don't care how pretty she is, I ardently hope that she is indicted for her crimes against the country and they lock her up!
75
Hopefully she has been wearing a wire.
51
Getting a little warm in the White House?
28
..and another one bites the dust!
20
This will free her up to date more winners like Rob Porter and Corey Lewandowski! Very strategic!
39
I hope someone has confiscated her passport or put a subpoena in her hands. She’s going to have to explain her little white lies under oath and on the record.
46
Let's see, "jail or the WH, jail or the WH?"; hmmm...
20
Hicks must be shaken by having dated someone who had abused so many women and for her not to know about it and have trusted Porter.
8
That's US she "whitelied" to folks - the people - no sympathy here!
50
Considering her testimony yesterday, I suspect Ms. Hicks has realize that white lies matter.
422
I can see how, after working for Donald Trump for three years, one could come to conclude that even whoppers don't matter.
1
Heavens no. She got caught and all people like her lie about what they really beleive in order to avoid being seen as the ruthless immoral people they are.
Please. That is SOP and literally every single politician has to do it to some degree. It's unfortunate, but that's politics. Heck, no political candidate in this country could ever hope to come close to winning an election without a fair amount of lying. One of my best friends is a speechwriter for the DNC, and while he believes wholeheartedly in what he does, he will be the first to admit that his job is basically to spin and lie all day long. He believes the ends justify the means. That the goals of DNC are noble enough that it justifies the lies if it helps the cause. I strongly disagree with him, but that's where he's coming from, and I do understand it. Politics is a swamp, sadly. Time to grow up folks.
I can't help but think her resignation has less to do with her so called professional accomplishments and is more about hoping to avoid jail and/or the taint of spending the rest of her life known as a Leni Riefenstahl. She strikes me as a nothing more than a blue blooded, rich girl with a keen survivor's instinct.
55
Ha! It appears Ms. Hicks is wise to be jumping from a sinking ship.
8
She is 29 years old and says she has "accomplished" everything she could hope to in the job. What a bunch of unqualified ninnies!
84
I don't need to read the Obama's books, I need to read yours. Hope, if you are not in too much trouble please write it -- and soon.
3
As the rats abandon ship.
15
If I ever happened to be face-to-face with her I wouldn't be able to hide my disdain and contempt for her bottomless well-of-support for her psychopathic boss and her patronizing, gratuitous and vociferous press releases in his honor. All I have in response to her is gross, ick, ugh and YUCK!
38
White lies are like alternative facts....lies.
No one will hire her for any corporate PR job. We will see her in three years on celebrity big brother. I hope they have an episode with Spicer and Scaramouch.
29
John F. Kelly, ..... “She became a trusted adviser and counselor,.... 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.”
SERIOUSLY?
She is 29 now, a former model who got into the campaign at 26 and has largely been absent from any public exposure. WHERE are WHERE did she learn these magnificent skills? In a dysfunctional WH? GMAB.
Maybe Wolff was right. L'affair trump est finis.
36
Controversy, scandal, chaos, drama......
Interesting she's leaving the day after testifying before Congress for 8 hours and admitting she's told "little white lies" in her job.
Did she lie to Mueller and company?
20
Who will write Trump's crib sheets with such wise sayings as "I hear you," now that Hicks is gone? The man will be lost when he has to appear sympathetic.
35
Ivanka is fully up to that task. Since she believes her father in all things, including his denial of all sexual misconduct.
5
What will Donald do without his yes girl? As she began to look more and more like a Melania look-a-like the Trump-Hicks relationship looked creepier and creepier.
31
a LIE BY ANY DESCRIPTION IS A lie. once a self admitted liar how can anything she ever says be believed. Was she lying then or now How the reporters would relish future questions with this admission
4
Poor little Hope. She'll go off and write a tell-all book called 'White Lies and Other Favors: In Service to 45' and rake in the cash. She'll be fine.
24
Let me just chime in to say I am truly embarrassed for my beloved country.
There are many, many of us who wish this man-child had never been allowed near the hallowed building called the White House. He has turned it and the country into a laughing stock. He has no morals, no intelligence, no compassion, no guide beyond earning more and more money for himself and his fellow .01%ers.
He is a mouth connected to a brain that has no filter, no content.
I can’t in my wildest imagination figure out why anyone would have anything to do with this cesspool of a human being.
He’s not smart.
He’s knows nothing of policy.
He’s not even curious.
Who are these lowlifes who want to be associated with him?
I want my country back.
I want my flag unsullied.
I want principles to once again grace the home of the President of the United States.
211
Exactly. Excellent comment.
4
Then make sure you vote come November.
drain the swamp...maga....the house of cards us falling
3
Does it have to do with those "little white lies" she told? What were the lies?
6
Where will she meet tRump for their assignations now?
1
That’s what I was wondering.
1
Admitted liar quitting, quotes from other liars to follow.
12
Don't Let the Door hit you on the way out. Non one needs an adviser who says she tells lies.
4
A picture is worth a thousand words...
The photo I mean is the photo of Hope Hicks in the blue coat, outside, with cameras pointed at her. You can see how much she enjoys her job, lol.
1
Looks like she needs to clear her calendar for a plea deal -- all those "white lies".
3
Elect a clown. Expect a circus.
36
How she got away with no answering questions about Russia us a crime in itself. I hope Muller goes after her as well. But for now-good riddance to bad rubbish.
10
In the era of #MeToo it's disheartening to read all the negative comments About Hope Hicks. Perhaps she felt trapped, may be she felt like she had no choice, may be she was in love with the President? All you liberals are "victim shaming" and "victim blaming" Hope Hicks-- If it was just discovered she was an undocumented immigrant supporting a family- none of you liberals would be so quick to criticize! I swear- ALL of you liberals are a bunch of hypocrites! Shame on you! Go walk the emotional support animal, get some air and respond later...
2
My God, with that stunningly well structured argument you have convinced me, Trump is a saint, how could she not fall in love with him? How could any of us not love him? Thanks for straightening me out, and good luck with your English classes, I hope the Moscow winter isn't too bad this year.
10
It'll be that she admitted lying. The WH Communications Director admitted lying, and then refused to answer any more questions...... She's just joined Mueller's list, if she wasn't on it before.
9
Scared to stay on now that she has been questioned about lying for Trump...Good riddance to another misfit in the White House. Her taste in men could be improved as well, from Trump down to what was his name? Oh, Porter.
5
The praise from Trump, Kelly et al is sickening. She walks on water....while "telling little white lies."
3
Hope Hicks got tired fo lying for Trump? Well that is refreshing.
Bjut the Trump Reality TV Tragi-comedy Show continues.... we must remember now gone Rob Porter - the wife- basher , but there is still Wilbur Ross-the money launderer, Betsy DeVoss - the education destroyer, Nikki Haley- the war monger, Scott Pruitt the atmosphere polluter, Ben Carson the incompetent squanderer, ..this list goes on and on for pages: people surrounding Trump that are just as evil and as incompetent as he is. No surprises there.
We know that Trump was placed in office through a corrupted election with proven Russian assitance and we know that every day will bring us more gut-wrenching bad news about what is happening to our country. We also know that the only way to restore some peace of mind is to throw these Republican anti-patriots including Trump, Ryan, McConnell and the Republican servants of the extremely rich out of Washington Get out the vote!!
11
Like so many Trump loyalists, Hope Hicks came to the WH with no experience whatsoever. She didn't belong there but loyalty reigns with Trump. One wonders, though, if she was asked to leave because of her "little white lies" comments. Is she going back to modeling and to the arms of wife batterer, Rob Porter? Good riddance.
8
"Ms. Hicks had been considering leaving for several months."
NYT is better than this.
Who are Haberman's sources for this line? Hicks? Her White House "colleagues"? Seems strange that Haberman would blithely print this as fact when, at best, it is suspect. Maybe it's just another "white lie."
22
Sadly, no. The NYT is not better than this. It's the standard now.
1
The very next sentence attributes this info as well as other info to her colleagues...
2
She knows she can still cash in at Faux News for millions... and that the window may be closing (for sure wanted to grab a spot before Kelly Anne and Huckabee grabbed the female slots)
22
Seems like she is as smart as people are saying. All this is likely to not end well and she is getting while the getting is good...
5
Never have so many done so little and end up so diminished by association with one man.
34
This may appear gossipy —but Hope was having an affair with Trump Campaign Manager, Corey Lewandowski, a married man in 2015-2016. Later she began dating controversial former White House Staff Secretary, Rob Porter.
If a man that did that nowadays they would be held to account. Was she higher on the ladder, their superior? You can't have double standards.
19
Ms. Hicks will be missed. The vultures in the swamp have scared her off. Next stop should be Fox news. That is where intelligent, savvy. credible, easy on the eyes Republicans end up. The bitter angry pols end up on MSNBC where they can whine 24 hours per day.
1
Yet another shallow and superficial Trump appointee who likely got her present job primarily based on her model looks and adoration of the boss. If being "easy on the eyes" is important to you, get your fix by looking at a girlie magazine or, yes, fox entertainment "news" channel. For honest to goodness leadership positions and responsibilities, particularly someone who has the ear of the president of the United States, it would be nice to have a responsible, experienced and mature person, not a still wet-behind-the-ears 29 year old who's dating a suspected wife-beater and was hired because she was photogenic. Good riddance.
1
Hope springs . . . .
5
When I was 29, I, too, had a great job with many important responsibilities. I was considered "wise beyond my years", owing to my serious nature, a solid education, good work ethics, and life experiences that rivaled those of my much older colleagues. But there is no way on earth my values would have allowed me to work for someone as dishonest, or as dangerous for my country as Trump. And I would never have taken a job for which I was pathetically unqualified for, no matter how "prestigeous" that job seemed to be. I'm sorry, but I have no respect for Hicks, or for anyone who hitched their wagon to his star.
But has Trump learned to stop hiring friends and family members as "advisors"? No, because he needs to be the "smartest" guy in the roomorning, and he needs to surround himself with people who are dazzled by his genius.
44
Maybe the wife of somebody at the White House forced her out. Another reader is concerned that the praise from Trump and Kelly might tarnish her resume. I think the biggest deterrent to her new employment will be the wives of any male decision makers at prospective employers.
13
"She maintained one of the lowest public profiles of anyone to ever hold the job, declining to sit for interviews or appear at the White House briefing room podium. That mystique added to the outsize attention she received."
Well, I guess if you can't deliver the goods, you can at least create a "mystique." It seems obvious to me that she avoided these situations because she knew she would reveal how unqualified and unprepared for the job she was, and her thin knowledge base.
30
The wheels are coming off.
12
Hope? We've lost ALL hope. God help us!
7
I wonder if ultimately she’ll need “witness protection.”
Kelly says she had “wisdom” - very wise to leave at this point.
I hope she seriously considers how much easier she’ll sleep if she works *with* Mueller, rather than against him.
6
Of course everyone has nice things to say about her. She's seen everything. Here's a bet: Team Mueller wanted her to collaborate. Wear a wire, or record phone calls, etc. She is loyal to Trump, so the best thing she could do for him was leave.
I hope she gets prosecuted for anything and everything she's done.
38
So, multiple sources say there is no connection between today's announcement leaving and her testifying yesterday before the HIC that she had "occasionally" been "required" to tell "white" lies while serving in Mr. Trump's administration? Hmm...what kind of lies would those be? "White" lies? "Bald-faced" lies? Or just your standard "today is just another day in the Trump administration" lies? Sounds like they are plenty of liars left to pick up the slack.
12
Hope Ms. Hicks looks good in stripes. Being a model and all.
12
Please, please please can DJT be the next one to hand in his resignation?
12
Gosh, it isn't even Farewell Friday yet. Have some respect for tradition, Hope.
6
From the outside, it appears as if she has successfully managed to navigate through what in any normal administration is a minefield, but in Trumps White House is the politically equivalent of the Battle of the Somme.
You have to admire her for that skill, and she is probably very wise in getting out before she does end up getting shelled.
4
These Millennials. They are only loyal to their own career.
4
Great joke photo today - a picture of Hope on her phone and the caption:
'...You've reached the Robert Mueller plea deal office. All our agents are helping other customers. Please continue to hold...'
45
It's okay. Somehow I'm sure they have binders full of former models to replace her with. There is a dress code and a requirement to be "able to take a joke" but experience is not a prerequisite; so there's that.
9
Smart, both personally and professionally. Everyone associated with Trump is going to be stained and up their eyeballs in legal bills.
3
Yes, she is "one of President Trump’s longest-serving advisers". Nuff said.
3
I seriously doubt that Hope's job is more than placating Trump when he had rages and temper tantrums and facilitating his needs, whatever they are.
5
Its pretty Obvious the Rats are abandoning the sinking ship, the turnover has been telling and the shape of our Govt is the reality of Inexperience, Bluster and Promises they cant keep, Pay for the wall yourself Trumpy Bear, its not what I want my tax money spent on, WE NEED TO REBUILD OUR ROADS AND BRIDGES, and stop the drilling and mining in our National Parks, Fire a EPA administrators whose dirtier then Coal, and set our Nation back on the path of real proven prosperity, Not wannabee, promises and White Nationalism, This is a world of many colors, Races, Religions, Not GOLFERS who cant fly coach because people are mean to them...the rest of the rats including Jeff Sessions will follow shortly...
9
How do you think I'm going to get along
Without you, when you're gone
You took me for everything that I had
And kicked me out on my own
Are you happy, are you satisfied?
How long can you stand the heat?
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust, yeah.
2
I hope Mr Mueller has a few more questions for her.
7
Well, Hope Hicks lasted longer than her predecessor Anthony Scaramucci - remember him? - did as White House Communications Director who lasted a grand total of 10 days.
Looks like she can't take the heat about Russia's interference in our 2016 elections and "links" to Trump associates. Closer and closer. That noose is sure getting tighter.
I guess telling "little white lies" is a basic minimum prerequisite for serving in the Trump White House, especially as Communications Director (or Press Secretary - see Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders for more lies and exaggerations). Of course, the current occupant of the Oval Office is a pathological liar. Our first president, George Washington, could never tell a lie. Donald Trump can never tell the truth.
7
Goodbye and good riddance to one of the most ill-skilled and inappropriate members of the White House staff, except of course for her mission to protect and covet Trump's ego and to cover up many of Trump's frightening behaviors with those "white lies."
We must keep going, this process of bringing the soon-to-be-proven guilty, to justice. Our democracy is being rocked.
9
Ms. Hicks is just another TeamTrumper who knows that lawyering up is on her radar screen when TeamMueller takes Trump to the mat. This is in no way disputing her West WIng reputation for being an intelligent member of the team.
But nearly everyone in the White House, along with the ENTIRE Republican party of the House and Senate, has been enabling a boy-king autocrat. they have been defending this known business fraud, cheapskate (unless it was gold plated), and self-professed sexual predatory. They have defended a little man who has turned out international relationships upside down; they have defended a cowardly tweeter-in-chief; they have been at the big table gushing over their boss like the hand-clapping minions surrounding Kim Jung-Un; they have applauded the linguistically abusive, tiny mind of a man whose own empire is collapsing as investor-partners pull the Trump name from their projects.
Corruption didn't "just happen" in this administration. When Trump realized he was the accidental President, he decided to make hay while the sun shines, turning every cabinet leadership post into another opportunity for lining their pockets while further enriching their donors. This has been an administration designed as a kleptocracy from Day One and Ms. Hicks was just another cog in that wheel.
Unfortunately, even after Trump leaves the keys to the Oval Office for Mike Pence, the same den of thieves will be in charge.
Hope Hicks was just a cog in the kleptocracy.
9
She denied lying about "anything connected to the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election."
Wasn't she part of the lying press release that Trump wrote on Air Force One to say that the purpose of the June 2016 meeting with Junior/Kushner/Manafort was "Russian adoptions" -- a total whopping lie disproved by the email exchange in advance of the meeting?
10
John Kelly says she was "a trusted adviser and counselor." Of course she was! Anyone who's willing to lie without compunction for Cadet Bone Spurs is all right in Kelly's book.
5
I find it amusing that her surname is the same as the group of people who make up the majority of Trump's supporter base
15
Interesting. Very interesting. We'll soon be told that Jared Kushner was considering a downgrade to his security clearance `for months'.
6
It's a good idea to leave a quagmire before one sinks too far to escape. No telling what malfeasance this woman may be privy to or party to, but it is sure there would be more to come. Best to go while she still can.
2
Well, she's still got some modeling years left.
As I recall Trump just told her one day in "Trump Tower" that she was "now working for him". Just told her.
And part of her job description, besides modeling clothes at the White House and working in "communications" is to hand-steam Trump's suit on Air Force One while he's wearing it, whenever he gives the command.
2
The spokeswoman should not have to tell Lies period.
1