By GRACE SMITH
Hope Hicks announced Wednesday that she planned to step down from her position as White House Communication Director and leave the White House. Her exit becomes the latest of 18 departures from the Trump White House staff, 15 of which were also result of resignation. She is also the third communications director to leave since the beginning of Trump’s presidency.
Hope Hicks speaks with Donald Trump within the Oval Office.
Hicks has been a long-time friend and confidant of the president and one of the few who could reportedly challenging his standing thoughts on certain issues.
When Donald Trump decided to run in 2015, he pulled Hicks from Ivanka’s branding and licensing team despite her lack of experience. She was a close adviser during the process and, even after her appointment to Communications director maintained a low public profiles by turning down interviews and not standing at the podium in the White House briefing room.
Hicks announced this just a day after her testimony before the House Intelligence Committee where she reportedly admitting to telling lies for and about the president but nothing related to the investigation into Russia interference with the presidential election.
However, several White House aides explained her decision to leave had nothing to do with her appearance before the House Intelligence Committee and claimed Hicks had made the choice days before the hearing because she did not like Washington, D.C., and did not want to stay and pretend she did.
A Twitter user compares the length of service between Hope Hicks and previous Communications Director Scaramucci.
Hick’s departure caps off a series of high-profile exits — including Sean Spicer as press secretary and James Comey as FBI director — since President Donald Trump took office in January 2017 and raises questions about the stability and structure of the Trump administration.
Many White House aides expressed hopefulness that now there would be more structure and stability within the administration. Others are waiting to see how President Trump reacts to losing a huge part of his major supports and personal advisers. For a man who relies very heavily on validation from those close to him, how will he react to a staff full of outsiders?