Hope Hicks went from 'Trump whisper' to not showing up for a month before 'sad' ... trends now
Longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks saw her own vaunted connection with former President Trump wither amid his repeated election fraud claims – and confided he had 'stopped listening to her' before the Capitol riot, her interview transcript reveals.
'He stopped listening to me a long time ago. It's very sad though,' she texted former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway after January 6th, when she determined Trump was squandering the legacy she helped shape as a close inside advisor.
She texted with Conway, another longtime counselor who managed Trump's 2016 campaign, after 4 pm on January 6th, as the scope of the violence and destruction was coming to light, according to House January 6th committee testimony.
'This is so awful,' wrote Hicks, whose damaging testimony featured in the panel's last public hearing.
'Yes it is. I called him. I assume you're not on the campus?' Conway responded – indicating other key advisors had noticed her absence.
Hope Hicks was among former President Trump's closest advisors. She testified that she urged him to stop claiming massive election fraud occurred, and said he 'stopped listening to me' long ago
That prompted Hicks to reveal her newfound distance from jump and her decision to stay away from the White House she helped Trump win in 2016 as a campaign spokeswoman who followed him from the Trump Organization.
It was a stark departure for someone who had jumped to national prominence as a glamorous and plugged-in advisor who helped make up part of Trump's inner circle. The former President had "brought her onstage at an October 2020 campaign rally in Florida, hailing her as 'the great Hope Hicks,' playing off her name while talking about unity and hope. 'We want Hope!' he said. That prompted cheers from a rally crowd of 'We want Hope!'
Hicks in her testimony traces how within weeks of that event, she was put off by Trump's repeated claims of election fraud even after networks called the race for Joe Biden and a series of courts tossed out the claims of his allies.
She says she counseled Trump against it January 11, 2020, days after the riot.
'Is it really as bad as everyone's making it seem,' he asked her, she says.
'Yes. Yes it is,' she told him.
'So you don't think I should say it was stolen?' the former president asked her.
Hicks appeared voluntarily before the House January 6 Committee. Trump brought her on stage at a rally in October 2020. But by Nov. 7, she had determined that he had lost, despite Trump's claims of fraud
Trump led a crowd in cheers of 'We want Hope!' She stopped coming into the White House for weeks after the election
Trump gave Hicks a memorable send-off when she left the White House to join Fox News in 2018
'This is so awful,' Hicks wrote former counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway Jan. 6th, 2020. 'Yes it is. I called him. I assume you're not on the campus?' Conway responded
Conway also spoke to the committee, which House Republicans say they will disband on January 3 when they take over the House
'And I said "No",' she continued. That prompted Trump to tell her: 'You really hate that, don't you?'
'And I said "Yes, I really do."' she testified.
Hicks served as White House communications director, then departed to join Fox News as an executive in 2018, returning two years later to rejoin Trump.
Hicks participated in the interview without a subpoena, and shared other information that exposes Trump helming his election overturn effort in increased isolation.
She indicated
