 |
| Hope Hicks |
Former White House communications director Hope Hicks has been directed by her former employer not to turn over any documents relating to the time she spent in the White House.
Hicks, who’s now chief communications officer at Fox, received a subpoena on May 21 requesting the documents, which relate to matters involving the 2016 Trump campaign and were subjects of the Mueller investigation. Those documents were to be presented to the House Committee on the Judiciary by June 4. At the same time, a similar subpoena was issued to Annie Donaldson Talley, who was the chief of staff to former White House counsel Donald F. McGahn II.
According to a statement from Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler, Hicks agreed to release documents from when she was working for the Trump campaign in 2016. (She served as a top aide on the campaign staff.) However, the New York Times reports that a copy of a letter from Hicks’ lawyer indicates that the haul consisted of just four documents containing email chains.
The Trump administration, however, is drawing the line at documents that relate to the period when Hicks and Talley worked in the White House. A letter written by White House Counsel Pat Cipollone states that “Ms. Talley and Ms. Hicks do not have the legal right to disclose the White House records to third parties,” and that “the White House records at issue involve significant Executive Branch confidentiality interests.”
Nadler, however, said that the documents requested “are no longer covered by executive privilege, if ever they were,” adding that “the President has no lawful basis for preventing these witnesses from complying with our request.”
Hicks, who was stationed at the White House from Jan. 2017 to April 2018, was in charge of overall communications strategy and messaging regarding economic, domestic and foreign affairs issues. She told a Congressional committee last year that she had told "white lies" on Trump's behalf a day before announcing her intention to resign.
While the Judiciary Committee’s deadline for receiving the documents has passed, Nadler said that both Hicks and Talley are still expected to testify before the committee. Hicks is set to appear on June 19, with Talley following on June 24.
Jeffrey Nesbit, who served as communications director for former vice president Dan Quayle, is named assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Kate Bedingfield, White House communications director, will exit at the end of the month. Ben LaBolt, a longtime Biden adviser, will take the CD post.
Cathy Cochran, senior VP in Teneo’s Washington office, has rejoined the US Dept of Agriculture as director in its communications office.
Mexico is working with the DC-based Global Action on Gun Violence to push for “impactful gun violence prevention strategies” in the US.
Douglas Farrar, who was VP-communications and strategy at the Carnegie Center for International Peace, has joined the Federal Trade Commission as PA director.
Have a comment? Send it to 
No comments have been submitted for this story yet.