WHITE House communications director Hope Hicks has declared she will be standing down from the top job after acknowledging to a US House intelligence panel that she has told “white lies” for US President Donald Trump.

But she insisted she had not lied about anything relevant to the Russia investigation, according to those present for Ms Hicks’ closed-door testimony.

She is the fifth communications director to leave the White House in little more than 12 months. Her staff have reportedly said she will ‘stay on a little while’ to assist with the transition of her role.

“Hope is outstanding and has done great work for the last three years,” Trump said, in a statement announcing her intention to resign.

“There are no words to adequately express my gratitude to President Trump,” Hicks said in a statement of her own.

The New York Times, citing White House aides, said Hicks told colleagues she had accomplished what she felt she could in her White House job.
She follows Sean Spicer (January to March, 2017), Mike Dubke (March to June), Spicer again (June-July) and Anthony Scaramucci, who was sacked before he officially took up the role in July.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said no timeline had been set for Hicks’ departure, and denied any link between her decision and her questioning Tuesday by a congressional panel probing Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

LITTLE WHITE LIES

Ms Hicks was interviewed for nine hours yesterday by the panel investigating Russia interference in the 2016 election and contact between Trump’s campaign and Russia.

One of Mr Trump’s closest aides, Ms Hicks was his spokeswoman during the 2016 presidential campaign and is now White House communications director.

The top Democrat on the intelligence panel, Adam Schiff, said after the meeting was over that Ms Hicks answered questions about her role in Mr Trump’s campaign and answered some questions about the transition period between the election and the inauguration. But she would not answer any questions about events since Mr Trump took the oath of office, similar to some other White House officials who have spoken to the committee.

Mr Schiff said Ms Hicks did not assert any type of executive privilege, but just said she had been advised not to answer.

Ms Hicks did answer a question about whether she had ever lied for her boss, saying she had told “white lies” for Mr Trump on occasion, according to a person familiar with the testimony. The person, who declined to be named because the committee’s interviews are not public, said Ms Hicks told the panel she had not lied about anything substantive.

Republican Tom Rooney of Florida, a member of the intelligence panel who was in the interview, said Ms Hicks’ answer was completely unrelated to the Russia investigation.

“When specifically asked whether or not she was instructed to lie by the president, or the candidate, with regard to Russia, the investigation or our investigation, the answer to that question was no,” Rooney said. “And that’s our jurisdiction. Not whether or not he asked her to cancel a meeting for him, or something like that.”

“All of our questions about what went into that statement went unanswered,” Mr Schiff said.

Asked about Hicks’ refusal to answer some questions, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that “we are co-operating because as the president has said repeatedly there is no collusion, and we’re going to continue to co-operate, and hopefully they’ll wrap this up soon.”

RUSSIA ROLE QUESTIONED

House investigators also had questions about her time in the White House, including her role in drafting a statement responding to news reports about a 2016 meeting between Trump campaign officials and Russians.

That statement has been of particular interest to special counsel Robert Mueller.

The White House has said the president was involved in drafting the statement after news of the meeting broke last summer. The statement said the meeting primarily concerned a Russian adoption program, though emails released later showed that Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., enthusiastically agreed to the sit-down with a Russian lawyer and others after he was promised dirt on Trump’s presidential rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Hicks was with the president on Air Force One while they were writing the initial statement.

The New York Times has reported that, according to Mark Corallo, a former member of Trump’s legal team, Hicks said in a phone call with him and the president that emails written by Trump Jr. about the meeting in question “will never get out.” That, if true, could raise suspicions about attempts to obstruct the Mueller investigation.

“All of our questions about what went into that statement went unanswered,” Schiff said.

As the interview wore on, Hicks and her lawyer relented on one area of questioning - the transition period between the election and the inauguration. Schiff said it became clear to the House lawmakers that she had answered questions about that time period in a separate interview with the Senate intelligence panel. That committee is also investigating the meddling and spoke to Hicks several months ago.

Democrats had asked for a subpoena after she refused to answer questions, but Republicans had declined to issue one.

WHO IS HOPE HICKS?

Hicks, 29, is from the New York City suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut.

Her parents met while working on Capitol Hill. Her father worked for a Republican. Her mother the Democrats.

We know she was an avid lacrosse player and swimmer.

She began appearing as a child model aged 11 for Ralph Lauren.

Eventually she took up a role working with Ivanka Trump as a public relations consultant.

She took up a similar role in Donald Trump’s campaign team in the lead up to the 2016 election. It was her first political job.

Since then, she’s managed to maintain a relatively low profile.

Despite being Trump’s communication director, she made very few public appearances herself.

But Hicks has not been able to avoid in scandal.

She was reportedly in a relationship with former White House staff secretary Rob Porter. Her role in attempting to shield him from the political fallout of his ex-wives accusing him of physical abuse came under intense scruitiny.

CNN has cited White House sources that President Trump had become frustrated with Hicks after she continued to defend Porter even after he resigned. “Trump has told associates he feels that Hicks put her own priorities ahead of his.”