After confirming she is leaving her high profile White House post within weeks, Hope Hicks spent the morning away from the office – strolling out of her home at a leisurely hour rather than rushing to her drama-filled workplace.
Hicks, 29, who is Trump’s longest surviving aide and helped guide his early shoestring campaign operation after working for the Trump Organization, revealed she was leaving Thursday.
She still has a lot on her plate with a future to plan and a White House in turmoil, but didn’t leave home until 12:10 pm Thursday.
The news of Hicks’ departure broke a day after the White House communications director’s nine-hour appearance before the House Intelligence Committee in the Russia probe.
Hicks testified during the grilling that she sometimes tells ‘white lies’ on behalf of President Trump – an admission that reportedly infuriated the president, and provoked an angry partisan spat on the committee about whether asking her whether Trump had told her to lie was fair came.
Hope Hicks spent the morning away from the office, but headed out to an unknown location after noon
She produced her response after conversations with her lawyer that ran to 10 minutes, lawmakers said.
An angry Trump berated her about the admission, according to reports – but it would not be unusual for him to vent at his longtime aide.
Hicks was ‘a puddle of tears’ at the Wednesday morning communications meeting at the White House, CBS reported.
But she was fully composed as she strolled outside her apartment in Washington D.C. mid-day Thursday.
She wore a white riding jacket in a casual outfit, eschewing the power dress she wore to her Capitol Hill testimony – and picking a color that First Lady Melania Trump chose for Trump’s State of the Union and rival Hillary Clinton picked for the Democratic National Convention.
MENTAL HEALTH DAY? Hicks reportedly got ‘berated’ by President Trump after saying he sometimes asked her to tell ‘white lies’
TAKING HER TIME: The news broke a day after a nine-hour grilling before the House Intelligence Committee in the Russia probE
MAYBE SHE’S JUST TELECOMMUTING: Hicks dodged a morning when the White House was reeling from Trump’s attacks on his attorney general, the Mueller probe, anger at chief of staff John Kelly, and fallout from her own departure
Hope Hicks steps out of her DC apartment building at 12:10 PM. She is seen for the first time since her resignation
The White House didn’t immediately respond to questions about whether she was coming into the office Thursday.
Trump reportedly ‘berated’ White House communications director Hope Hicks after she admitted telling ‘white lies’ for the president during her testimony to the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.
A source made the revelation to CNN’s Erin Burnett just hours after it was announced that Hicks would be departing the White House in the coming weeks, leaving a giant hole in the inner circle Trump trusts most.
Hicks sat for a nine-hour grilling before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday; she’s pictured leaving the U.S. Capitol at night
Hicks is pictured here Wednesday morning, hours before news broke that she was leaving
Hope Hicks was thrust into the spotlight this year when DailyMail.com reported that the two ex-wives of her then-boyfriend Rob Porter (right), who was serving as Trump’s staff secretary, had accused him of spousal abuse
Burnett claims an angry Trump asked Hicks after her testimony ‘how she could be so stupid.
‘Apparently, that was the final straw for Hope Hicks,’ Burnett claimed.
But White House spokesman Hogan Gidley called the report that Trump berated her ‘false’.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also paid tribute to Hicks on Twitter
Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, who’s spoken glowingly about Hicks, also used Twitter to say goodbye. Conway was the president’s final campaign manager while Hicks was serving as the campaign’s press secretary
The New York Times was first to report on Hicks’ departure.
Hicks, 29, told the paper ‘[t]here are no words to adequately express my gratitude to President Trump.’
‘I wish the President and his administration the very best as he continues to lead our country.’
She picked a good enough day to stay away, dodging a morning when the White House was reeling from Trump’s attacks on his attorney general, the Mueller probe, anger at chief of staff John Kelly, and fallout from her own departure.
Hicks is well liked among the staff and gained a reputation as a calming influence on the president. Her relationship, now apparently off, with former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, drew attention to Porter’s role.
DailyMail.com reported that two ex wives accused Porter of abuse, and he resigned following reports that he had been unable to get a long term top level security clearance.