Hope Hicks Had Been Unhappy For Months Before Deciding to Leave the White House

According to an article in New York Magazine, Trump confidant Hope Hicks (also known as the White House Communications Director) had been unhappy for months and wanted to leave the White House long before she announced her resignation in February.

The author of the article, Olivia Nuzzi, wrote on twitter that Hicks would not speak on the record.

In her article, Nuzzi reports that Hicks told Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner that she was unhappy in August of last year.  Not only that, but she explains in detail the cause of her unhappiness:

“Over dinner in Bedminster in early August, she told Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump that she was unhappy. She’d thought that being in the White House would feel different than the campaign, but instead, surrounded by eccentrics, maniacs, divas, and guys from the Republican National Committee it was somehow sicker there in the stillness of it all. She suggested removing herself from the belly of the psychodrama to work elsewhere in the administration. Sharing her frustrations, Jared and Ivanka engaged her idea with caution; they asked her to give General John Kelly, the new chief of staff, a chance to change the West Wing for the better.

But as time went on, it became clear that the sickness was a feature, that anyone who entered the building became a little sick themselves. And no matter how dead any of the eccentrics or maniacs or divas appeared to be, how far away from the president their status as fired or resigned or never-hired-in-the-first-place should have logically rendered them, nobody was ever truly gone. The people who were problems on the campaign or on the inside continued to be problems.”‘

Hicks reportedly also considered resigning in December but instead signed  a six-month lease renewal for her apartment for her apartment in Washington.

As time went on, the article says, she continually wrote in her notebook a “series of scenarios” of her stepping down — when she should do it, and how she should do it and how each scenario would be reported in the press. She concluded that if she stepped down right away, it would be played as very bad news for the administration, so she decided to wait.

Another factor in her decision to resign (and when to resign) was her prominent role in both congressional and special counsel investigations into the Trump campaign and Russian election interference. 

Despite this, many people were still surprised when Hicks resigned from her White House position last month.  She had been with the president from the very beginning of his campaign and was known as Trump’s most trusted aide and confidant.

“There are no words to adequately express my gratitude to President Trump. I wish the president and his administration the very best as he continues to lead our country,” she said in a statement at the time of her resignation.

She had testified before the House Intelligence Committee just one day before resigning and had created a media firestorm by saying afterwards that she told “white lies” while working for the president.

Since Hicks was one of the very few people who had been with Trump through the entire campaign, transition, and his presidency, she is a treasure trove of information for Bob Mueller and his team.  There is no doubt we will be hearing a lot more about Hope Hicks in the months ahead.  The question is this:  will she be indicted for her roles in crimes like conspiracy and obstruction, or will she be a cooperating witness for the special counsel’s investigation?

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.