In blow to Trump, top aide Hope Hicks to leave White House

Hope Hicks, one of U.S. President Donald Trump’s longest-serving and most trusted aides, is resigning from her job as White House communications director, a blow to the president, whose inner circle has been depleted by firings and clouded by scandal.The White House announced Hicks, 29, was leaving a day after she spent nine hours in a closed hearing of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Hicks’ decision to leave was not related to her appearance before the panel, where lawmakers said she declined to answer questions about the administration. Trump called her “a truly great person” whom he would miss having at his side.

The Republican president has presided over an extraordinary amount of turnover among senior staff in his White House since entering office more than a year ago.

His first chief of staff, Reince Priebus, stepped down last summer, and his chief strategist, Steve Bannon was fired. Four people, including Hicks and former press secretary Sean Spicer, who also resigned, have held the communications director mantle.

Hicks did more than steer messaging. She was a constant presence in Trump’s orbit, sitting in on interviews with reporters and quietly steering press-related policy while maintaining a behind-the-scenes, low-but-glamorous-profile.

Hicks managed in many ways to stay above the fray of staff backbiting and palace intrigue that has characterized the Trump White House, but her proximity to the president has made her a central figure in some of its more dramatic moments.