Trump's aide told one of the biggest Russian whoppers of the campaign.
Mueller to Interview WH Communications Director Hope Hicks
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Hope Hicks' time in the barrel may come soon. Special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly aiming to interview the White House communications director as part of the Trump-Russia investigation. When he and his team of lawyers do so, they presumably will be mindful that the 29-year-old Hicks told one of the biggest whoppers of the 2016 campaign.
Two days after Donald Trump won the election, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the Russian government had been in contact with the Trump campaign. "There were contacts," he remarked. "We are doing this and have been doing this during the election campaign." He noted that the Kremlin knew many of Trump's closest allies and was in touch with them. "Obviously, we know most of the people from his [Trump's] entourage." he said. "Those people have always been in the limelight in the United States and have occupied high-ranking positions." Ryabkov added that these contacts would continue.
This comment contradicted Trump's claim -- which he declared repeatedly through the campaign -- that he had nothing to do with Russia. That was often how he responded when asked about Russia's cyberattacks against the Clinton campaign and other Democratic targets. Though the US intelligence community, a month before the election, released an assessment stating that Russia was trying to subvert the presidential contest, Trump and his lieutenants constantly claimed there was no evidence of Moscow involvement.
So with a senior Russian official now stating that the Trump campaign had interacted with Russians, what was the Trump campaign to do? For Hicks, it was easy. Go with a blanket denial. "It never happened," she said. "There was no communication between the campaign and any foreign entity during the campaign."
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