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Hope Hicks: House subpoenas Trump's former communications director, among other top White House staff

New subpoenas arrive as former White House counsel fails to appear for testimony before House Judiciary Committee

New York

Tuesday 21 May 2019 22:13 BST

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Ro Khanna suggests Donald Trump administration officials could be fined for ignoring subpoenas

House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler has reportedly issued subpoenas for Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson — two key figures at the core of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

While Ms Hicks served as the president’s former White House communications director, Ms Donaldson was former chief of staff to ex-White House counsel Donald McGahn.

Ms Donaldson’s notes were critical to a section of the special counsel’s report on Russian interference that pertains to the president’s potential obstruction of justice. Ms Hicks also played a crucial role in Mr Trump’s response to explosive news reports about the infamous Trump Tower meeting with Russian operatives.

The House Judiciary Committee reportedly issued the subpoenas on Tuesday demanding documents and testimony from both women as part of their investigation into Mr Trump’s supposed obstruction of justice.

The committee has requested Ms Hicks to speak at a public hearing about her experience working in the Trump administration and on the president’s 2016 campaign. Ms Donaldson has been called in for a private deposition.

Mueller investigation: The key figures

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1/12Mueller investigation: The key figures

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Robert Mueller is the special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, and potential obstruction of justice by the president. Mr Mueller has a pristine reputation in Washington, where he was previously in charge of the FBI. Throughout his investigation, he and his team have been notoriously tight lipped about what they know and where their investigation has led.

REUTERS

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Former FBI director James Comey was the catalyst that led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. Mr Comey was fired by the president after Mr Trump reportedly asked him to drop his own Russia investigation. Mr Trump has long maintained that the investigation is a "witch hunt".

AFP/Getty Images

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein had authority over the special counsel investigation for much of the two years it has been active. Mr Rosenstein found himself with that responsibility after then-attorney general Jeff Sessions recused himself from that oversight.

AP

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Attorney general Jeff Sessions's decision to recuse himself from oversight of the special counsel investigation may have cost him his job in the end. Mr Sessions resigned last year, after weathering a contentious relationship with Donald Trump who vocally criticised his attorney general for taking a step back. Mr Sessions recused himself from the oversight citing longstanding Justice Department rules to not be involved in investigations overseeing campaigns that officials were apart of.

AP

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Attorney General William Barr is currently responsible for oversight of the special counsel investigation. Mr Barr's office will be the first to receive the Mueller report when it is finished. His office will then determine what portion or version of that report should be delivered to Congress, and also made public.

EPA

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Michal Cohn is the president's former personal lawyer, who has been helping the special counsel investigation as a part of a plea deal over financial crimes, and campaign finance crimes, he has pleaded guilty to. Among those crimes, Cohen admitted to facilitating $130,000 in hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign. Cohen has said he did so at the direction of Mr Trump. Cohen has also admitted that he maintained contacts with Russian officials about a potential Trump real estate project in Moscow for months longer than Mr Trump and others admitted. The talks continued well into 2016 during the campaign, he has said.

AP

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Stormy Daniels has alleged that she had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006, soon after Melania Trump gave birth to Baron Trump. The accusation is of particular importance as a result of the $130,000 hush money payment she received to keep quiet about the affair during the 2016 campaign.

AP

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Paul Manafort was Donald Trump's former campaign chairman. Manafort was charged alongside Rick Gates for a slew of financial crimes, and was convicted on several counts in a Virginia court. He then pleaded guilty to separate charges filed in a Washington court. Manafort has been sentenced to just 7.5 years in prison for his crimes — in spite of recommendations from the special counsel's office for a much harsher sentence.

AP

Mueller investigation: The key figures

George Papadopoulos was one of the first individuals associated with the Trump campaign to be charged by the Mueller probe. He ultimately received a 14 day prison sentence for lying to investigators about contacts he had with Russian officials.

AP

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Roger Stone is a well known political fixer and operative, who has made a name for himself for some dirty tactics. He has been charged by the Mueller probe earlier this year, and he has been said to have had prior knowledge that WikiLeaks planned on publishing stolen emails from the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016.

Getty Images

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Rick Gates was charged alongside former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort for a range of crimes. Gates, who worked alongside Manafort for a pro-Russia Ukrainian political party. The two were charged with conspiracy and financial crimes. Gates pleaded guilty.

AP

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn was one of the first casualties of the Russia scandal, and was forced out of his position in the White House weeks after Donald Trump took office. Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to "willfully" making fraudulent statements about contacts he had with Russian officials including former Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Flynn then lied to Vice President Mike Pence about that contact.

REUTERS

Announcement of the subpoenas arrived after Mr McGahn defied his own subpoena on Tuesday by failing to show up to the committee to testify on Tuesday. The president had reportedly instructed the former White House counsel not to appear at the event.

The special counsel’s report outlined how Mr Trump sought to restrict and at times outright halt the federal investigation through first-hand accounts like that of Mr McGahn, one of the report’s key figures.

Mr Trump has vowed to fight “all of the subpoenas” issued by Congress.

The move to subpoena the former top White House officials arrived as a growing number of Democrats have called for impeachment proceedings against Mr Trump after ordering Mr McGahn not to testify.

Meanwhile, Doug Collins, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, has claimed Democrats were “trying desperately to make something out of nothing.”

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Mr Nadler said that if Mr McGahn doesn't "immediately correct his mistake" in not showing, the committee will have to enforce the subpoena.

Additional reporting by AP

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