Hope Hicks Reportedly Testifies That Trump Is ‘Serious’ About Accepting Foreign Intelligence
Former White House aide Hope Hicks appeared in front of a House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday and was asked to speak about her former boss’s opinion that there isn’t anything wrong with taking information from a foreign country in order to help beat political opponents. Hicks reportedly told lawmakers that she found his statement troubling and believes that he is “serious” when he says that he would entertain any information that is offered to him.
According to The Hill, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from New York, issued a written statement laying out Hicks’ testimony, which happened behind closed doors on Capitol Hill yesterday.
“His invitation to foreign actors is so alarming that even one of his most loyal former aides, Hope Hicks, knew that the president’s statement was troubling,” the statement reads.
“Yesterday, during her transcribed interview, Ms. Hicks made clear that she understood the president to be serious when he said that he would accept foreign interference in our elections,” the statement continues. “She also made clear that even she knew that such foreign assistance should be rejected and reported to the FBI.”
Nadler said that he plans to release relevant information from Hicks’ interview in a transcript in the near future.
Hicks sat for eight hours of testimony on Wednesday to discuss, among other things, the Robert Mueller investigation but refused to speak about her time working in the White House. Democrats expressed frustration that the White House had directed her to stay silent, thus limiting her testimony to the committee.
Jerry Nadler on the Hope Hicks immunity claims: "The White House asserted so-called absolute immunity, which is ridiculous and which we'll destroy in court." https://t.co/rIZnKSoFLJ
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 19, 2019
The controversy began when President Trump told George Stephanopoulos of ABC News that he would be willing to accept dirt on his 2020 opponents if it was offered to him by foreign powers. He told Stephanopoulos that it would not be interference to take such information.
The president faced immediate backlash from people on both sides of the aisle, forcing him to attempt to justify his statement.
“Of course you have to look at it because if you don’t look at it you’re not going to know if it’s bad,” he said on Fox News.
He added that if he thought the information was “incorrect or badly stated” that he would report it to the FBI.
Nadler said, according to Business Insider, that Trump’s willingness to hear out foreign actors may have encouraged some of them to ramp up efforts to influence U.S. elections.
