Hope Hicks was known as Donald Trump's gatekeeper, a calming force for the former president who had been by his side as a loyal confidant for years.
She is currently playing a key role as a witness in his trial. Last Friday, Hicks appeared as a prosecution witness in a New York criminal trial and testified against her former boss.
Early in the trial, David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid newspaper, said Trump had participated in a conference call set up by Trump with Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who worked in the Trump administration at the time and is now the governor of Arkansas. testified about it. The call centered around Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal, who reached an agreement to keep her from speaking about her alleged affair with Trump.
“They thought it was a good idea,” Pecker testified of Hicks and Huckabee Sanders.
On the witness stand Friday, Hicks testified that she wrote several possible responses to a Wall Street Journal article about McDougal's hush money and shared them with Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen. When she began to give her testimony, she said, her voice was shaky and she was nervous.
She also told jurors how the infamous 'Access Hollywood' tape was a 'harmful development' during the 2016 election cycle.
Hicks became one of two key advisers early in the 2016 campaign, along with former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. At the time, Trump was seen as a media sideshow before becoming the overwhelming leader in the primaries and later the Republican nominee. There were several reshuffles over the course of Trump's successful bid, but Hicks always survived. This indicates closeness to Trump.
Hicks joined President Trump as a top White House adviser. She frequently visited the Oval Office and maintained close relationships with Trump's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who were also senior White House officials. While other aides were mired in infighting and chaos, Hicks largely succeeded in staying out of the fray.
While Trump has cycled through numerous top advisers who have risen and fallen in his favor, Hicks has been a near constant. Her title was Senior Advisor for Communications, but that took away from her importance. Her real job, according to people who worked with her, was managing Trump. Her office was located just outside the Oval Office, reflecting her importance to the former president.
“Hope was one of the president’s most loyal and dedicated aides,” said Raj Shah, a former Trump White House official. “What made her different from the others was that she was one of the few savvy informants who was with him from the beginning.” “The president instinctively trusted her judgment.”
While many in the Trump White House have been motivated to advance policy or personal agendas, those who have worked with Hicks say she has one interest. She is Trump himself.
But that intimacy landed her in legal trouble. For example, Hicks appeared before a grand jury last year before Trump was indicted.
She also gained attention in 2018 when she was reported to be romantically involved with fellow White House adviser Rob Porter.
That year she left the White House and moved west, moving to Los Angeles to work for the Fox Corporation. Her friends said she hated being so far away from her family, and in March 2020 she returned to Washington once again as an assistant to the president. Her vision for her job was to travel with him and provide strategic advice, but this was the start of the coronavirus pandemic and her attention turned to helping manage communications for the looming public health crisis.
Hicks left the White House on January 12, 2021, six days after the deadly Capitol siege and eight days before Trump left office. He said Hicks had planned to leave before the riots broke out.
Hicks, it was later revealed, was highly critical of Trump's actions related to the Capitol riot. A House committee investigating the attack later released text messages Hicks sent to Ivanka Trump's chief of staff, Julie Radford. [Trump] We have terminated all future opportunities that do not include speaking engagements at local Proud Boys chapters.”
Most recently, Hicks performed strategic communications consulting for controversial fast fashion retailer Shein. Shein has recently been in the spotlight in Washington for his ties to China. During the 2022 midterm elections, Hicks served as an advisor to failed Pennsylvania Senate candidate David McCormick, who is married to former Trump White House official Deena Powell.
“Hope is very smart, politically savvy and strategic,” said Hogan Gidley, a former Trump White House official. “She has an incredible ability to read people and a room at every moment, and when dealing with a global catastrophe or a domestic political fight, she has a very strong skill and ability to provide strong advice and unselfishly give advice to Donald Trump. You have. “Have interest in your heart.”