Hope Hicks Will Testify for Dems Next Week

WASHINGTON — Hope Hicks, the former White House communications director who once admitted to telling “white lies” on behalf of her old boss President Trump, has agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee next Wednesday.

Hicks will become the first material witness from the Mueller investigation to testify before House Judiciary, the committee said in a statement Wednesday.

The appearance will take place behind closed doors, but a transcript will be made publicly available soon afterwards, according to committee chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Democrat from New York.

Hicks initially spurned a subpoena from House Democrats issued back in May on instructions from Trump’s White House, which has maintained a position of blanket defiance against requests for witnesses and documents from Congress.

Hicks served as Trump’s spokeswoman during his 2016 campaign before entering the White House, and has been widely reported to have a close relationship with Trump.

Wednesday’s announcement marks a rare breakthrough for House Democrats who’ve struggled to get present and former White House officials to show up and answer questions. But Hicks' testimony won’t be the made-for-TV moment House Democrats have longed for; she’ll be fielding questions beside a White House lawyer, according to the Washington Post, and behind closed doors.

The interview will address questions about Russian interference in the 2016 campaign and “efforts by President Trump, his associates, and other administration officials to obstruct justice and investigations into presidential misconduct,” the committee said.

Nadler said Democrats haven’t agreed to put any subjects out of bounds for the interview.

“Ms. Hicks understands that the Committee will be free to pose questions as it sees fit, including about her time on the Trump Campaign and her time in the White House,” Nadler said.

Cover: President Donald Trump shakes hands with outgoing White House Communications Director Hope Hicks on her last day before Trump boarded Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, for a trip to Ohio. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)