David Corn: Note to Robert Mueller: Hope Hicks Was Part of the Cover-Up

[babylonsister]

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/11/note-to-robert-mueller-hope-hicks-was-part-of-the-cover-up/

Note to Robert Mueller: Hope Hicks Was Part of the Cover-Up
Trump’s aide told one of the biggest Russian whoppers of the campaign.

David Corn
Nov. 21, 2017 6:00 AM


Hope Hicks’ time in the barrel may come soon. Special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly aiming to interview the White House communications director as part of the Trump-Russia investigation. When he and his team of lawyers do so, they presumably will be mindful that the 29-year-old Hicks told one of the biggest whoppers of the 2016 campaign.

Two days after Donald Trump won the election, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the Russian government had been in contact with the Trump campaign. “There were contacts,” he remarked. “We are doing this and have been doing this during the election campaign.” He noted that the Kremlin knew many of Trump’s closest allies and was in touch with them. “Obviously, we know most of the people from his [Trump’s] entourage.” he said. “Those people have always been in the limelight in the United States and have occupied high-ranking positions.” Ryabkov added that these contacts would continue.

This comment contradicted Trump’s claim—which he declared repeatedly through the campaign—that he had nothing to do with Russia. That was often how he responded when asked about Russia’s cyberattacks against the Clinton campaign and other Democratic targets. Though the US intelligence community, a month before the election, released an assessment stating that Russia was trying to subvert the presidential contest, Trump and his lieutenants constantly claimed there was no evidence of Moscow involvement.

So with a senior Russian official now stating that the Trump campaign had interacted with Russians, what was the Trump campaign to do? For Hicks, it was easy. Go with a blanket denial. “It never happened,” she said. “There was no communication between the campaign and any foreign entity during the campaign.”

No communication. That was a wildly false statement. There were many communications—with Russians and foreign entities, including WikiLeaks, which dumped the Democratic emails stolen by Russian intelligence.

snip//

Hicks has been by Trump’s side since 2014, when she went to work for the Trump Organization. (Prior to that she was at a New York public relations firm contracted by Ivanka Trump.) She was with Trump when he decided to fire FBI chief James Comey. She was on Air Force One when Trump reportedly got involved in drafting a misleading White House statement regarding the meeting between Trump Jr., Kushner, Manafort and the Russian emissary. Mueller and his crew have much to talk about with Hicks. But she is not just any witness. She is part of the cover-up.

[BigmanPigman]

1. She is toast too.

What confuses me is how all of them are photographed looking so happy and carefree. None of them are that good at acting to be able to pull it off. Can the Moron pardon all of them (Jared, Hope, JR, Miller ,etc)?

[Ilsa]

2. I think people like Hicks are too ignorant to

Realize the depth of the shit they have pooped out around themselves. They see all laws as just politics now, a grey area, so there's no danger perceived. There's a certain amount of denial, too.

What surprises me is whether any lawyers on DOTUS' team have warned anyone arounfpd them, or if they are protecting themselves from the legal peril thet clearly see.

[Irish_Dem]

4. The psychology is fascinating. Ignorance, denial, belief laws are just politics being used

against them. Belief that being in the WH confers immunity of some sort?

I don't know if Trump's shyster attorneys are being honest with any one or just spouting
the usual nonsense.

[Ilsa]

11. I think they are protecting themselves.

After all, the lawyers had to hire attorneys for themselves.

[Irish_Dem]

24. good point, they don't care about their clients any more, too busy protecting themselves. nt

[Raster]

47. I think Hicks* and others of the deep tRump* enterouge have convinced themselves...

...that their lord and master tRump* will have/has the power to circumvent laws designed to curtail some of the very actions and misdeeds they have committed. I truly believe they are 10-foot tall and bulletproof.

[dhol82]

6. Hubris

And remember what happens when you commit that sin.

[getagrip_already]

8. simple one word answer...

Pardon. They have every reason to believe trump will grant them ne and that it will hold up. Why worry?

[PearliePoo2]

3. Hope Hicks is young. She's only 29 years old.

I don't believe she is ANY match for Bob Mueller's team. An 'A' Team that consists of the BEST prosecutors and career investigators on the entire, fucking planet.

An 'A' team of prestigious men and women patriots who put their own careers on HOLD to join up with Robert Mueller to expose blatant corruption and criminality wherever it may lead.

They have a selfless mission. Failure is NOT an option.

[pbmus]

13. From your puter to Gods ears, I and this country meditate that you are correct.

[MLAA]

22. Good idea, about to start my morning meditation 🙂

[gibraltar72]

5. I don't

think Mueller will ask her anything they don't already know about. Not thinking many will cover her ass while losing theirs.

[Zoonart]

9. Hicks is the plausible deniability filter for Trump.

All of the emails that were flying around from the Russians to Junior to Jared were forwarded to Hicks, who showed them to t=Trump from her phone so that they did not hit the pResident's phone log. They think they are masterminds. They are wrong.

[brush]

14. Emails and texts to her from the others that she apparently then showed to trump means she's deep...

in the middle of multiple contacts with Russia, which she denied straight out.

So they've got her and will certainly let her know.

Bad news for trump as she'll most likely flip for a lighter sentence.

[Zoonart]

16. Yep!

[icymist]

40. Yup! Hicks is the email launderer!

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029839602

Link to tweet

[Javaman]

7. I bet the orange menaces gf has some stories to tell.

this is getting good. LOL

[lancelyons]

10. I wouldnt be surprised if Hope Hicks and Trump have something going on.

I wouldnt be surprised if Hope Hicks and Trump have something going on. Just a hunch.

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. Ewwww!

[gvstn]

37. $178,000/yr. So not worth it.

I'd eat sardines and crackers every night before I'd greet Trump like this.

[SunSeeker]

45. Eeeeeeeuuwww

And I don't mean the sardines.

[Merlot]

17. She slept her way to the top? really????

Please don't make me defend hope hicks. I really don't want to, am pretty sure she's in it up to her neck with the lying and being the communications conduit. To assume that she's having an affair with her boss becasue she's young and attractive is old school sexism.

And if something were going on, it's the least illegal thing she's done with him.

[ProfessorGAC]

28. Yeah, She's Just Another Doe Eyed Wannabe Model Or Actress. . .

. . .who found her real talent was duping the RW rubes because she's cute and says outrageous things they want the DC types to say.

She's no different than Coulter, or Ingraham, or Malkin who knew they could get the radical right boys club to sucked in and make a healthy career out of it.

After all, the fat white guy spewing right wing crap has long been monopolized by a certain drug addicted child molester. But there was room in that theater for attractive, fairly young women spewing the same nonsense.

[Fred Sanders]

31. Faux Spews has perfected the dark art of hiring women as eye candy for their 60 plus

creepy old white man demo that keeps them in business.

[ProfessorGAC]

33. Yes They Have, Fred

People with credentials mostly to car parkers at the airport!

[Ilsa]

48. I wouldn't assume "she slept her way to the top."

She may be talented in communications, even though I think she is too inexperienced to be Comm Director.

But I also think there is a chance that something gross is going on.

[Cryptoad]

26. Welcome to DU,,,,,Comrade!

[Farmer-Rick]

15. Thanks for posting this

This is why I like DU so much. I'm a long time lurker. This site has the latest info And never minimizes the true implications of the fraud and crimes being perpetrated on the American people.

An island of sanity in a sea of crazy.

[PearliePoo2]

20. Welcome to DU Farmer-Rick! And you are absolutely correct! DU doesn't sleep..

I can read the Latest Breaking News and find out about a story WAY before it hits my TV.

Another fantastic feature of DU is that it's so expertly moderated with a team of volunteers who are always on the look-out for illegitimate crap or trolls.

I trust what I read here. No one can post some bogus bullshit they just pulled out of their ass. It has to be legitimate, you have to cite a credible source or you can be outed, alerted to a jury, disciplined if necessary or even permanently banned. (Tombstoned=awarded a pizza...lol)

There are many rules you have to abide by (and they are all good ones) to be a DU member. This is what sets this site apart from most on the net and why it's my favorite.

(Plus, the collective IQ and knowledge of DUers has to be off the charts. Every day I learn something!)

[Farmer-Rick]

38. Thanks for the welcome

I look forward to being a member

[Cryptoad]

27. Welcome to DU,,,,,Comrade!

[Farmer-Rick]

41. Why thank you too Comrade.

[samnsara]

18. 29 is very young.. she will be only 49 when she gets out of prison...

..she can still have a 'meaningful' life...hahahahaha

[PearliePoo2]

21. "will be only 49 when she gets out of prison"

Damn that hurts when hot coffee comes out my nose!

[MLAA]

23. Excellent observation....made me smile a big toothy smile!

[kentuck]

19. And Trump is reported to call Putin today or tomorrow?

About "Syria"...

[Cryptoad]

25. Whose paying for her Lawyers,,,,??????????

[Gothmog]

29. Hope Hicks is indeed a conspirator and part of the cover up

[fierywoman]

30. How can she NOT be? And, she doesn't exactly have a law degree from Harvard.

[Fred Sanders]

32. Hicks main qualification is fellat....I mean felicity to Herr Shitler.

[fierywoman]

35. It's OK, you can say it, I'm an old lady!

For some reason your reply made me think of an Italian friend telling me of a friend of his who was having an affair with (the tenor) Luciano Pavarotti. My reaction was: what on earth can they do? (He was quite obese) My friend answered, Oh, she gives him un piccolo piacere (a little pleasure.)
Felicidades!

[maxsolomon]

34. Lying is not against the law - if you're not under oath.

Blanket denials are Trump's S.O.P. and he's never paid a price for it. Blanket denials got him elected. If Hicks HADN'T issued a blanket denial, she'd have been fired.

Hicks, who's the same age as my daughter, either:
a. has no soul
b. is intoxicated by her proximity to power

[GulfCoast66]

36. Lying to the FBI is always a crime

Felony at that. No oath required.

[maxsolomon]

39. And Congress

but that's not how Roy Cohn taught Trump to lie.

[L. Coyote]

42. There was no communication between the campaign and any foreign entity during the campaign.

She will be eating those words.

[Pepsidog]

43. Hicks knows where all the bodies are buried and as a 29yo

novice playing in big league politics and is not equipped to deal with the likes of Mueller’s team of experienced prosecutors. I am a criminal defense attorney and if she is compelled to be interviewed I would strongly advise her to tell the truth. If she lies, Mueller’s team will know and she will go to jail, can anyone say Martha Stewart. I suspect she is royally screwed either way. If she lies for Trump,she goes to jail. If she tells the truth, Trump will disavow her and throw her under the bus like he does everyone else. Trump is a human wrecking ball who destroys everyone in his path. He will throw her to the wolves without a second thought. So if Hicks were smart, she would cut a deal to save her own skin. But somehow after her ostentatious displays of fashion during the Asia trip, she seems to be caught up in the trappings of being in close proximity to wealth and power and will probably lie to Mueller and end up a convicted felon.

[DoctorJoJo]

44. Also Rumored To Be 1st Sqeeze!

[DeminPennswoods]

46. Mueller's team will definately ask questions

to which they already know the answer.

I have little doubt there's some sort of romantic relationship going on between her and Trump. Trump's been married 3 times and the first two marriage break ups were preceded by affairs with younger, prettier women. I'm sure Melania is aware of the pattern.