THE AUDACITY OF HOPE

At a dinner with friends recently, a couple of people mentioned that they’d never heard of Hope Hicks before last month, and they wondered how a Trump insider had kept such a low profile.  Here’s my theory.  Word on the street is that Hope Hicks was a prolific leaker, supplying various journalists with inside information about White House intrigue.  Unlike most White House leakers, however, she had no personal agenda. 

Instead, Hicks was an ally of Ivanka and Jared.  Her leaks were aimed at discrediting their enemies – primarily Steve Bannon and his allies – rather than enhancing her own reputation.  That made it hard for outsiders to guess where the leaks were coming from, especially since Bannon had a lot of enemies in the White House.  Reporters protected her identity because they valued her as a source of inside information.  And her low-profile work on behalf of Ivanka and Jared kept her in Trump’s good graces.

Hicks’ profile rose considerably in February, when her then-boyfriend, Rob Porter, was outed as a serial wife-beater.  It’s reasonable to wonder whether that particular leak was designed to protect Hicks, or to erode her anonymity and thus weaken Ivanka and Jared.    

Working in the Trump White House isn’t easy, as evidenced by the constant turnover of staff.  When Hicks announced her resignation, she said it was something that she’d been planning for a long time.  Maybe so.  But my guess is that the tipping point came last December (which in Trump terms is a long time ago), after she’d spent two days answering questions for Robert Mueller’s investigators.  It must have been clear to her then that her legal position was precarious at best.  She either gave evidence against Donald Trump or perjured herself.

But it was her testimony before the House Intelligence Committee that finally did her in.  That hearing was supposed to be confidential, but Devin Nunes’ clown car can’t keep secrets.  Someone in the room leaked the information that Hicks admitted that she told occasional “white lies” on Trump’s behalf.  Boom!  Trump lost his temper, and Hicks submitted her resignation.   

Then came another leak, thus far unconfirmed.  A “White House insider” told the DAILY MAIL that Hicks kept a detailed diary of her interactions with Donald Trump.  If that’s true, it was probably help her land a book deal once she returned to civilian life.  But Norm Eisen, Special Counsel for Ethics and Government Reform under President Obama, says that any such diary or journal would, per the Presidential Records Act, belong to the government.  She couldn’t legally destroy it, nor could she deny Mueller’s team access to it.

Speaking of leaks and the leaking leakers that leak them, remember that Mueller doesn’t play that game. Mike Allen in AXIOS made an important observation on that point (link below).  When you read stories about what Mueller and his team are doing, such as who they’re interviewing and the focus of the questions they’re asking, you should assume that those leaks came from people who’d been subpoenaed to testify, either as suspects, witnesses, or both. 

Why would suspects, potential or actual, want that information made public?  The theory I find most persuasive is that they’re trying to provoke Donald Trump.  They’re hoping to make him mad enough to fire Mueller and stop the investigation, and/or to make him worried enough about the incriminating information in Mueller’s possession that he’ll begin issuing pardons.

It’s a persuasive theory because such a strategy could work.  The mad king is easily provoked.  Luckily for us (not to mention for truth, justice, and the American way), Trump’s reaction to provocation is invariably short-sighted and ultimately self-defeating.

https://www.axios.com/mueller-russia-probe-update-stories-2dc74bfd-ddae-4c48-b66f-9873be82945d.html