Greenwich’s Hope Hicks returns to White House as counselor to the president

Two years after leaving the White House under controversial circumstances, Greenwich native Hope Hicks is returning to the Trump administration with the title of counselor to the president. Hicks”™ new duties will involve working as a senior adviser reporting to Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law.

Hicks had worked for Trump since January 2015, when she became his press secretary. She first came in contact with the Trump orbit when she was a publicist at Hiltzik Strategies assigned to promote Ivanka Trump”™s fashion line. After Trump became president, she joined his administration as director of strategic communications and was later promoted to White House communications director.

While Hicks was a visible presence at the Trump”™s side during the early part of his presidency, she mostly avoided on-camera interviews. In early 2018, GQ magazine named Hicks the most powerful person in Trump-dominated Washington.

But she also she drew scrutiny for reportedly telling a closed-door hearing of the House Intelligence Committee that she occasionally told “white lies” on behalf of the president. Her relationship with former Trump aide Rob Porter, who resigned amid public allegations from his two ex-wives of domestic abuse, also created media controversy.

She left the administration in February 2018 and was hired as an executive vice president and chief communications officer at Fox Corp.