Here comes Hope Hicks’ day of reckoning
Of all the strange and unanswered storylines in the Trump-Russia scandal and aftermath, the saga of Hope Hicks might be the most confusing. Now it’s all about to come full circle in a big way, potentially within days, and we’re finally about to get some answers as to what on earth was really going on with her.
Everyone recalls the infamous series of events in which Hope Hicks testified privately before the House Intel Committee, then announced the next day that she was resigning from Donald Trump’s White House. Who does that, and why? Did she realize during her testimony that the obstruction of justice scandal was uglier than she thought? Did she tell the truth during her testimony, in a way that she expected would get her fired? Did she perjure herself, and then conclude that she needed to resign and cut a plea deal?
Months prior to this series of events, Hope Hicks reportedly spent multiple days giving testimony to Robert Mueller. Today the House Intel Committee, which is now in the hands of the Democrats, announced that it will vote on Wednesday to give Hicks’ testimony transcript to Mueller. Adam Schiff said last week that Mueller already has unofficial copies of the House Intel Committee transcripts. So if Hicks told a different story to Mueller than she told the committee, then Mueller already has her nailed for perjury, and he’ll be able to indict her the minute he gets the official transcript this week. There’s more.
The Hope Hicks saga happened against a backdrop of another former Trump adviser, Mark Corallo, having reportedly told Robert Mueller that he witnessed Hicks vowing to suppress and/or destroy Donald Trump Jr’s incriminating emails. If Corallo’s claims are backed up by solid evidence – and we don’t know if they are – then Hicks is going to prison for a long time on obstruction of justice charges. For that matter, former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks thinks that Hicks could be criminally liable simply for having helped Donald Trump craft the dishonest statement about Junior’s meeting, even before getting to Corallo’s accusations.
Of course this is all a moot point if Hope Hicks has already cut a plea deal with Robert Mueller, or if she’s informally given him enough cooperation that he’s not interested in indicting her. For that matter, if she told the truth both times she testified, and if the Corallo accusations haven’t turned out to be substantive, then there would be nothing to indict her on. But if she has told Mueller and Congress the truth about the antics of Donald Trump Senior and Junior, then she’s helped send them to prison.
Whatever the real story is with Hope Hicks, suffice it to say that Robert Mueller already knows the whole story. Her official testimony transcript has got to be the final piece of the puzzle when it comes to her role in all this. If she’s going down on criminal charges, or if she’s sold out others for their crimes, that should all come out soon now.
