The White House has instructed former officialsHope Hicks and Annie Donaldson not to turn over documents to the House Judiciary Committee that relate to their work in the administration.
House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) had subpoenaed the two on May 21, setting a deadline of 10 a.m. on June 4 for them to produce documents and demanding they provide testimony – Hicks in a public appearance on June 19 and Donaldson in a closed-door deposition June 24.
CNN first reported the White House had instructed them not to turn over documents stemming from their time in the Trump administration sought by the subpoena. A committee source confirmed the development to The Hill.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday subpoenaed two former White House officials to testify before his committee and provide documents, a move that is likely to further exacerbate a standoff with the White House.
Nadler issued subpoenas to Annie Donaldson, who served as chief of staff to former White House counsel Don McGahn, and former White House communications director Hope Hicks, one of President Trump‘s longest-serving aides in the West Wing.
The two subpoenas mark an ongoing fight between the White House and Congress as House Democrats seek to compel the testimony of other current and former administration officials as part of their sprawling investigations into Trump and his administration.
Attorney General William Barr has publicly released a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report for the Russia investigation. Despite the redactions, a wealth of information is in the report—and many of President Donald Trump’s past and present associates are discussed extensively.
Here’s what the Mueller report says about the roles of some key players and Trump associates.
1. Hope Hicks
On Page 101 of Mueller’s report, former Trump White House staffer Hope Hicks is quoted as saying that e-mails in which Donald Trump, Jr. said, in 2016, that he would “love it” if Russia would leak some dirt on Hillary Clinton looked “really bad” for the president’s son. Mueller’s report states, “the President was insistent that he did not want to talk about it and said he did not want details.”
President Trump and Hope Hicks Credit: Jabin Botsford, The Washington Post
In a new interview with the ABC News podcast “The Investigation,” Mark Corallo, a former spokesperson for President Donald Trump’s legal team, was deeply critical of the role Hope Hicks played in key events in the special counsel’s investigation.
Hicks, who served as Trump’s communications director before leaving the White House, was on Air Force One with the president when he issued a statement about his campaign meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian emissary promising to bring “dirt” on Hillary Clinton the summer before the 2016 election. In that statement, Trump had omitted the fact that the Russians had offered any help with the campaign — a key revelation as Special Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Kremlin’s election interference was ongoing.
Corallo noted that the statement Trump put out was inaccurate and that regardless, Hicks should not have been involved in putting out the statement at all.
the following article by Judd Legum was posted on the ThinkProgress website May 22, 2018:
Latest appointee to Pres. Trump’s legal team, former Mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani Credit: Tasos Katopodis, Getty Images
“We can’t let our guy go in and be questioned without knowing this.”
On Monday, President Donald Trump summoned Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats to the Oval Office and demanded to see documents related to the ongoing investigation of his own campaign.
The following article by Judd Legum was posted on the ThinkProgress website May 21, 2018:
Bills bills bills.
Credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
Many of President Donald Trump’s top aides have lately found themselves at the center of a wide-ranging criminal investigation run by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Defending yourself in this sort of matter can be extremely expensive. Those in need of a top-flight white collar criminal attorney can expect to be charged upwards of $750 an hour. And this isn’t the type of situation where you want to shop around for a discount.
The following article by Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Anu Narayanswamy was posted on the Washington Post website May 20, 2018:
President Trump waves beside White House communications director Hope Hicks as he walks from the Oval Office to board Marine One on March 29. Credit: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post
The Republican National Committee paid nearly half a million dollars to a law firm that represents former White House communications director Hope Hicks and others in the Russia investigations, according to a new federal filing.
The RNC’s $451,780 payment to Trout Cacheris & Janis adds to the mounting legal fees associated with the investigations by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and several congressional committees of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Hicks hired Robert Trout, founder of the law firm, as her personal attorney in September, according to news reports. The report of the payments for legal and compliance services, contained in the Federal Election Commission report filed Sunday, is the first public disclosure of RNC payments to the law firm since Hicks hired Trout.
Three lawyers at the firm represent people in addition to Hicks in the investigations by Mueller and the House and Senate intelligence committees, according to the firm’s website. Hicks, who was one of President Trump’s most trusted and loyal aides, was interviewed by Mueller and the House and Senate intelligence panels in early 2018.
The following article by Jonathan Allen, Mike Memoli and Ken Delanian was posted on the NBC News website March 7, 2018:
WASHINGTON — A day before she resigned as White House communications director, Hope Hicks told the House Intelligence Committee last week that one of her email accounts was hacked, according to people who were present for her testimony in the panel’s Russia probe.
Under relatively routine questioning from Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., about her correspondence, Hicks indicated that she could no longer access two accounts: one she used as a member of President Donald Trump’s campaign team and the other a personal account, according to four people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the closed meeting of the Intelligence Committee was supposed to remain private. Continue reading “Hope Hicks told House Intelligence Committee she was hacked, sources say”
Mueller has subpoenaed a witness for all communications between that person and a number of people, including Trump, with the requested documents including emails, work documents, text messages, telephone logs and other records spanning back to November of 2015, NBC News reported.
The White House has instructed former officials Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson not to turn over documents to the House Judiciary Committee that relate to their work in the administration.
