Former White House aide Hope Hicks found herself in the unenviable position Friday of testifying against her former boss in Donald Trump’s hush-hush trial.
A year-by-year look at how the former teen model turned MAGA guru became a star witness in historic cases.
2014
Ivanka Trump hired Hicks from PR firm Hiltzig Strategies for her expanding lifestyle brand. She did everything from public relations to modeling and quickly became a trusted confidante of her future eldest daughter. She also impressed Donald Trump, who later said: GQ: “I thought Hope was outstanding.”
Hicks started her career with the Trumps under Ivanka and ended it with Jared Kushner.
Alex Wong/Getty
2015
Donald Trump decided to jump into the presidential race and selected Hicks, who had no political experience, as his campaign spokesperson. President Trump: “I’m going to have an experienced, capable person take over all day.” new york Magazine of your choice. “Experience is important, but ability is much more important.” She acts as a gatekeeper and also dictates many of his tweets.
Hicks, then Trump campaign press secretary, and security chief Keith Schiller at a campaign event in Derry, New Hampshire, on August 19, 2015.
Brooks Craft/Getty
2016
Hicks became the national transition team’s press secretary after Trump’s victory, before becoming the new White House director of strategic communications when Trump took office.
Stephen Miller and Hicks at Trump Tower on December 1, 2016, during the transition period.
Drew Angerer/Getty
2017
Hicks’ strategic role keeps her out of the spotlight, but she “has the most influence over who in the news media gets interviewed by the president.” new york times report. After Anthony Scaramucci was ousted as White House communications director after just 10 days for berating a colleague, Hicks was given the job, working with dozens of staffers in an office just outside the Oval Office. I was assigned to supervise. This would further raise her profile and draw her further into the internal White House infighting.
Hicks will become White House director of strategic communications on January 22, 2017.
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2018
Hicks was gunned down for nine hours behind closed doors by the House Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Although she has reportedly acknowledged stretching her truth for Trump, she insists she has not lied about anything related to her investigation. The next day, she abruptly resigned, citing the need to spend more time with her family. In her statement, President Trump gushed about her, saying, “She is by all accounts a smart, thoughtful, and truly wonderful person… She is confident that we will be able to work together again in the future.”
Hicks waves to reporters as she arrives at the Capitol to testify privately before the House Intelligence Committee.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty
2019
Hicks will begin a big new job as Fox’s executive vice president and chief communications officer, based in Los Angeles and reporting to Lachlan Murdoch. Later that year, she appeared before the House Judiciary Committee but refused to answer questions regarding her tenure in the White House.
On June 19, 2019, Hicks left the hearing room during a break in a closed session at the House Judiciary Committee.
Alex Wong/Getty
2020
After just a year at Fox, Hicks left her media job and returned to the White House as a senior adviser to President Trump, working with his son-in-law Jared Kushner. “She didn’t find it fun. She was bored,” said a former West Wing staffer. vanity fair.
Hicks heads to Marine One with Dan Scavino and Stephen Miller on September 21, 2020.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty
2021
Hicks leaves the White House bloomberg Her resignation was said to have been planned in advance and had nothing to do with the Capitol riot weeks earlier. (After the riot, she wrote a text in which Trump made White House staff look like “domestic terrorists” and terminated “all future opportunities that do not include speaking engagements at local Proud Boys chapters.”) It was later discovered that he had sent
2022
Hicks was questioned by the committee on January 6 and said she told Trump there was no evidence the 2020 election was stolen from him. “We saw no evidence of fraud on a scale that would have affected the outcome of the election, and we became increasingly concerned that we were tarnishing his legacy,” she said. I testified. “He said something like, if I lose, no one will care about my legacy. So it doesn’t matter. All that matters is winning.”
Hicks is seen on screen during a House committee hearing on January 6th.
Mandel Gan/AFP via Getty
2023
Ms. Hicks met with Manhattan prosecutors investigating hush money Mr. Trump paid to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. He reportedly later testified before the grand jury that ultimately indicted him.
2024
As the hush money trial concludes its third week, Hicks will take the stand as a prosecution witness to testify against Trump. Her testimony focuses on the camp’s reaction to the 2005 release. access hollywood The tape shows Trump bragging about grabbing a woman’s genitals, which sparked a scandal that allegedly led to Trump approving payments to Stormy Daniels. Hicks, 35, breaks down in tears during her cross-examination.
A sketch of Hicks on the stand in court.
