She has always been one of Donald Trump’s most trusted and dependable confidantes. However, on January 6, the committee obtained testimony from former top White House advisor Hope Hicks incriminating the former president.
More information about this is expected to be released as early as Wednesday, when the committee is expected to release its long-awaited final report into Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election and foment an attack on the Capitol based on false claims of voter fraud. It will also begin making public the transcripts of its interviews with up to 1,000 witnesses, including Hicks, conducted over the course of its 18-month investigation.
According to former prosecutors and legal experts, based on what the committee has already revealed, what Hicks said about Trump is likely to be damning and potentially devastating to him, both in the court of public opinion and a court of law, if he is ever prosecuted.
On Monday, the House panel voted to refer Trump to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution on charges of inciting an insurgency, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and other alleged crimes. It was also revealed at that meeting that Hicks criticised her former boss behind closed doors for refusing to admit he’d lost to Democrat Joe Biden. She also testified that Trump ignored her repeated warnings to his supporters to refrain from violence in the run-up to the mob attack on America’s seat of democracy.
Two years later, the panel votes on a criminal referral for Trump on January 6.
“I was becoming increasingly concerned that we were tarnishing his legacy,” Hicks said in videotaped testimony shown on a massive screen towering over the packed hearing room on Monday. Asked how Trump responded, Hicks replied, “He said something along the lines of nobody will care about my legacy if I lose, so that won’t matter. The only thing that matters is that you win.”
In a 160-page executive summary of its investigation, the committee also revealed other details from Hicks’ Oct. 25 testimony.
“The government simply frowns on people getting together, planning, and then taking some kind of step toward breaking the law. “The agreement is illegal in and of itself,” said Roscoe Howard, Jr., a former federal prosecutor and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. “So I’d say she’s enormously significant, primarily because she was an insider close enough to listen in on such conversations.”
Why is Hicks’ testimony important?
Hicks became perhaps Trump’s most trusted adviser as he rose from a dark horse Republican presidential candidate in 2016 to one of the most divisive presidents in modern American history. In 2018, she left her position as White House communications director for a position at 21st Century Fox in Los Angeles.
“She is as intelligent and thoughtful as they come, a truly great person,” Trump said at the time. She returned two years later as the president’s counsellor, reporting to senior White House adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, and was present for most, if not all, key moments of his presidency, reelection campaign, and Capitol riot.
And, while Trump hasn’t shied away from criticising other top aides, he’s been historically hesitant to say anything negative about Hicks. She resigned abruptly six days later, on January 6, 2021, when Trump summoned his supporters to Washington, riled them up, and sent them marching on the U.S. Capitol to oppose Congress’ certification of Biden’s electoral victory.
“She is as intelligent and thoughtful as they come, a truly great person,” Trump said at the time. She returned two years later as the president’s counsellor, reporting to senior White House adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, and was present for most, if not all, key moments of his presidency, reelection campaign, and Capitol riot.
And, while Trump hasn’t shied away from criticising other top aides, he’s been historically hesitant to say anything negative about Hicks. She resigned abruptly six days later, on January 6, 2021, when Trump summoned his supporters to Washington, riled them up, and sent them marching on the U.S. Capitol to oppose Congress’ certification of Biden’s electoral victory.
“The importance of Hope Hicks’ testimony to the (Jan. 6) committee cannot be overstated,” said Stephanie Grisham, Trump’s press secretary and communications director who worked closely with Hicks. “She was Trump’s most trusted aide, second only to Dan Scavino, and one of the few people he listened to. Her constant proximity to the president makes her invaluable as a witness.”
“From a sedition standpoint, the whole idea is were you attempting to prevent our government from functioning as a democracy? “It doesn’t get much more complicated than that,” Howard told USA TODAY. “From a prosecutor’s standpoint, it doesn’t really get any better than that – unless somebody has videotape (from Jan. 6), which I doubt.”
What did Hicks have to say to the committee?
Several books have already reported on Hicks’ interactions with Trump before, during, and after January 6, 2021, including the fact that she told him he’d lost the election and shouldn’t fight it any longer. However, her testimony to the committee was the first time the public heard Hicks speak about the attack in her own words and saw videotape of her testimony.
The committee also revealed that Hicks texted another White House official that she “suggested several times” that Trump call on his supporters to remain peaceful on and before Jan. 6, 2021, and that “he refused.”
Hicks’ testimony was significant, according to legal analyst and former acting U.S. solicitor general Neal Katyal, because it supports the committee’s contention that Trump was aware he was unleashing a potentially lethal mob on the Capitol. “He refused to discuss the importance of nonviolence. “I think that tells you everything you need to know,” Katyal said on MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” following the hearing on Monday. “Whether you call it premeditation or criminal intent, the evidence presented by the House committee is very strong.”
Hicks also had a visceral reaction to Trump’s tweet the afternoon of the riot, which attacked Vice President Mike Pence at the same time a mob was hunting him down at the Capitol. That night, she texted a colleague, “Attacking the VP? “Wtf is wrong with him?” says the committee’s summary report.
What else could Hicks’ testimony reveal?
Nobody knows for certain, but it’s clear that Hicks had a lot to say. According to a footnote in the committee’s investigative summary, Hicks’ interview with investigators lasted long enough to yield at least 110 pages of transcribed comments. The committee also has text messages between Hicks and White House official Hogan Gidley dating back to January 6, 2021, as well as text messages between her and Julie Radford, chief of staff to Trump daughter and White House aide Ivanka Trump.
