The transcripts also raise serious questions about whether Trump, Jr., was telling the truth when he told the Judiciary Committee that he didn’t inform his father in advance about the Trump Tower meeting. At 4:04 p.m. on June 6, 2016, three days before the meeting, according to telephone records that the Committee obtained, Trump, Jr., spoke briefly with Emin Agalarov, who had just completed a show in Moscow. At 4:27 p.m., he had a four-minute call with someone whose number was blocked. At 4:31 p.m., immediately after that conversation, he called Emin again and spoke for three minutes.
“Does your father use a blocked number on his cell phone or on any phones that you call him on?” Sawyer asked Trump, Jr.
“I don’t know,” he replied.
Ex-Trump Aide Sam Nunberg Says He’d Defy Subpoena in Russia Probe
Mr. Nunberg said he couldn’t have been colluding with Russia during the campaign because he was spending his time trying to oust former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. He said he believed former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, whom he called a “weird dude,” had colluded with Moscow.
.. Mr. Nunberg also told CNN that the special counsel’s team asked about a June 2016 meeting arranged by Mr. Trump’s eldest son at Trump Tower between top campaign aides and a Russian lawyer linked to the Kremlin. Mr. Trump has repeatedly denied that he knew about the meeting. In the CNN interview, Mr. Nunberg said he believed Mr. Trump was aware of the meeting.
“He talked about it for a week before, and I don’t know why he did this,” Mr. Nunberg told CNN. “All he had to say was, ‘Yeah, we met with the Russians. The Russians offered us something, and we thought they had something,’ and that was it. I don’t know why he went around trying to hide it when he shouldn’t have.”
Hope Hicks’s resignation caused a stir. But what she did first is more important.
She did not — indeed could not — invoke executive privilege, a power that only Mr. Trump can wield to prevent disclosure of information to Congress. But she refused to answer anyway, as though executive privilege properly applied.
A self-respecting legislative branch would not allow executive-branch witnesses to so easily evade basic questioning, particularly when it concerns matters as important as the Russia investigation.
.. It is unjustifiable to use executive privilege when the White House communications director is asked about, say, the president’s involvement in crafting a deceptive public statement about his son’s infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer — or, for that matter, her own role in the episode.
.. When past presidents sought to prevent or limit disclosure, they typically either invoked executive privilege or worked out a deal with congressional investigators before taking that formal step. Now, top Trump administration officials are evading questions without the White House doing either.
.. Ms. Hicks’s behavior has not been isolated. Former Trump strategist Stephen K. Bannon was similarly uncooperative. Before the Senate this past June, Attorney General Jeff Sessions explained that he could not invoke executive privilege but that his refusal to answer certain questions protected “the right of the president to assert it if he chooses.” Even Corey Lewandowski, who never worked in the White House, was evasive.
.. Lawmakers at least followed up by subpoenaing Mr. Bannon, a step they failed to take with Ms. Hicks when she testified. But she is as deserving of a subpoena. Meanwhile, the House should move to hold Mr. Bannon in contempt for his continued foot-dragging, which would require the assent of Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.).
.. Republicans held Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt when they were pursuing their trumped-up investigation of the “Fast and Furious” gunrunning scheme. Zealously defending the dignity of the legislative branch mattered to them when a Democrat was in the White House. And now?
Hope Hicks to Leave Post as White House Communications Director
Ms. Hicks, 29, a former model who joined Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign without any experience in politics, became known as one of the few aides who understood Mr. Trump’s personality and style and could challenge the president to change his views.
Her title belied the extent of her power within the West Wing — after John F. Kelly was appointed White House chief of staff, she had more access to the Oval Office than almost any other staff member. Her own office, which she inherited after the departure of another Trump confidant, Keith Schiller, was just next door.
.. Most significantly, Mr. Trump felt a more personal comfort with Ms. Hicks than he has established with almost any of his other, newer advisers since coming to Washington. And for a politician who relies so heavily on what is familiar to him, her absence could be jarring.
.. Ms. Hicks said that she had “no words” to express her gratitude to the president, who responded with his own statement.
.. But as the person who spent the most time with Mr. Trump, Ms. Hicks became enmeshed in a number of controversies over the past year, including key aspects of the investigations by Congress and the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into possible collusion between the Russian government and the Trump campaign.
.. Her resignation came a day after she testified for eight hours before the House Intelligence Committee, telling the panel that in her job, she had occasionally been required to tell white lies but had never lied about anything connected to the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
.. it was reported that she had dated Rob Porter,
.. Ms. Hicks’s departure will coincide with those of other people who have been close to the Trump family members in the White House.
- Reed Cordish, a policy adviser and friend of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, is leaving his role;
- Josh Raffel, a press aide whose initial portfolio was primarily focused on Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump, is also leaving; and
- Dina Powell, who had been a deputy national security adviser who was close to Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump, left weeks ago.
Their absence will deprive Mr. Trump and his daughter and son-in-law of many of the aides who served as crucial buffers and sounding boards as a turbulent and politically uncertain year begins.
.. Ms. Hicks had advised Mr. Trump, according to multiple White House officials, was to tone down some of his Twitter posts or stop sending them altogether, an effort that had mixed results. She also had the
- ability to stop Mr. Trump from focusing on an issue he was angry about, and sometimes
- shield other members of the staff from Mr. Trump’s anger.
.. those in the West Wing who did not like her approach feared her power, and worried about crossing her
.. Dan Scavino Jr., the White House digital director, is the only member of the president’s original campaign team still working directly for Mr. Trump.
.. Mercedes Schlapp — who Mr. Kelly brought in as a ballast against Ms. Hicks’s influence
.. She told colleagues that she had accomplished what she felt she could with a job that made her one of the most powerful people in Washington