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Thursday 20 June 2019

Hicks rebuffs questions on Trump White House in interview

By MARY CLARE JALONICK tee plans to take the ad- Hicks responded no, Dean
and LAURIE KELLMAN ministration to court on the named apparent con-
Associated Press immunity issue, and Hicks' tacts, such as emails, some
WASHINGTON (AP) — For- interview would be part of of which are mentioned
mer top White House ad- that litigation. in special counsel Robert
viser Hope Hicks refused to In a letter Tuesday to Mueller's report. Hicks said
answer questions related to Nadler, White House coun- she hadn't thought those
her time in the White House sel Pat Cipollone wrote that contacts were "relevant,"
in a daylong interview with Trump had directed Hicks according to Dean.
the House Judiciary Com- not to answer questions Republicans had a differ-
mittee, dimming Demo- "relating to the time of her ent perspective, saying she
crats' chances of obtaining service as a senior adviser was cooperative and the
new or substantive informa- to the president." The White interview was a waste of
tion about President Don- House has similarly cited time, especially in light of
ald Trump in their first inter- Former White House communications director Hope Hicks ar- broad executive privilege Mueller's two-year investi-
rives for closed-door interview with the House Judiciary Com-
view with a person linked to mittee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 19, 2019. with respect to many of the gation. The top Republican
his inner circle. Associated Press Democrats' other investi- on the panel, Georgia Rep.
Frustrated Democrats leav- gative demands, using the Doug Collins, said after the
ing the meeting Wednes- House Judiciary Committee there because of separa- president's power to with- interview that the commit-
day said Hicks and her law- Chairman Jerrold Nadler, tion of powers between hold information to protect tee "took eight hours to find
yer rigidly followed White D-N.Y., said Hicks' lawyers the legislative and execu- the confidentiality of the out what really most of us
House orders to stay quiet asserted the White House's tive branches. Nadler said Oval Office decision-mak- knew at the beginning."
about her time there and principle that as one of that principle is "ridiculous" ing process. Hicks was a key witness for
said they would be forced Trump's close advisers she and Democrats intend to Hicks did answer some Mueller, delivering impor-
to go to court to obtain an- is "absolutely immune" "destroy" it in court. questions about her time tant information to the spe-
swers. from talking about her time Nadler said the commit- on Trump's campaign, the cial counsel's office about
lawmakers said, but they multiple episodes involv-
said they learned little that ing the president. Mueller
was new. wrote in his report released
"She's objecting to stuff in April that there was not
that's already in the pub- enough evidence to es-
lic record," California Rep. tablish a criminal conspir-
Karen Bass said on a break acy between Trump's 2016
from the interview. Rep. campaign and Russia, but
Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said he could not exoner-
called her answers "a ate Trump on obstruction
farce." of justice. The report exam-
California Rep. Ted Lieu ined several situations in
tweeted about the meet- which Trump attempted to
ing while it was ongoing, influence or curtail Mueller's
writing that Hicks refused investigation.
to answer even innocuous Democrats has planned
questions such as whether to ask Hicks about several
she had previously testi- of those episodes, includ-
fied before Congress and ing efforts to remove Muel-
where her office was locat- ler from the investigation,
ed in the White House. pressure on former Attor-
In all, she was behind ney General Jeff Sessions
closed doors for eight and the firing of FBI Director
hours, with an hourlong James Comey. They also
break for lunch. planned to ask about Hicks'
Democrats pressed Hicks knowledge of hush-money
on episodes she might payments orchestrated by
have witnessed as one of former Trump lawyer Mi-
Trump's closest advisers. chael Cohen to two wom-
During questioning about en who claimed to have
the campaign, Rep. Made- had affairs with Trump —
leine Dean, D-Pa., said she the porn actress Stormy
asked Hicks if she had been Daniels and model Karen
aware of any outreach McDougal. Trump has de-
from the Russians. After nied the allegations.q