Robert Mueller has Hope Hicks nailed in Trump-Russia
Two days after Hope Hicks snubbed Donald Trump’s prying puppets on the House Intel Committee, and one day after she abruptly resigned from the White House altogether, most in the media still haven’t figured out that it all adds up to Hicks cutting a plea deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Some have asked why she would suddenly cut a deal now. The answer is that Mueller now has her nailed for obstruction of justice in a couple different ways.
Even though no one at CNN has yet acknowledged that Hicks is obviously cutting a deal, respected reporter Jim Acosta did tweet this tidbit last night: “Mueller’s team is asking about comments made by Hope Hicks about Russian contacts to the [New York Times].” This matters for two reasons. First, based on his established pattern, Mueller doesn’t ask witnesses questions like this unless he already has the evidence in hand. Lying to the media is not a crime in and of itself. But it is felony obstruction if you’re lying to the media for the purpose of misleading federal investigators. Then comes the other half of the equation.
Last week it was widely reported that Trump’s former legal spokesman Mark Corallo had testified to Mueller that he heard Hicks promising to suppress Trump-Russia evidence that incriminated Donald Trump Jr. This would be straight up felony obstruction of justice on her part. It also places Hicks’ lies to the media about the scandal in a malicious context.
So even though Hope Hicks testified to Mueller quite awhile ago, it’s easy to understand why she’s suddenly in a very different place legally than she was back then. In fact, based on what’s come out recently, it seems likely that Hicks lied to Mueller during her earlier testimony. If Mueller can prove that, it’s also a felony. So if you’re trying to wrap your mind around why Hicks would resign and cut a deal now, the writing is on the wall.
