美国国家公共电台 NPR Hope Hicks To Resign As White House Communications Director（在线收听）

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

President Trump's longest-serving aide is leaving the White House. Hope Hicks has been at Trump's side since before the start of his presidential campaign nearly three years ago. Today she's the White House communications director, and the White House says she will leave that job in the coming weeks. NPR's Tamara Keith joins us now from the White House. Hi, Tam.

TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Hey.

SHAPIRO: How big of a shock is this?

KEITH: This is a shock in a lot of ways because she has been sort of the ultimate survivor of the Trump administration and the Trump campaign and was truly one of his most loyal aides. But it does come at a time when she was making a lot of headlines and for all the wrong reasons.

Yesterday she testified before the House Intelligence Committee as part of its Russia investigation behind closed doors and reportedly admitted to telling white lies for the president but not as it relates to Russia. She had also been deeply involved in what was a multi-week controversy for the White House about former staff secretary Rob Porter, who had been accused by his two ex-wives of domestic abuse. The White House handled that in a way that is - was arguably terrible and made it drag on for longer. And she had also reportedly been dating Porter in addition to crafting the White House response.

But, you know, one person close to Hicks told NPR that this had been in the works for weeks and that it absolutely wasn't related to her testimony yesterday before the Intelligence Committee.

SHAPIRO: As we said, she's been by Trump's side constantly since before he started running for president. Talk about her role in his world.

KEITH: Yeah, so she joined the Trump campaign from its very first day - from before its very first day. President Trump put out a statement saying, quote, "I will miss having her by my side, but when she approached me about pursuing other opportunities, I totally understood. I am sure we will work together again in the future."

The thing about Hope Hicks - she was an - she was, like, the ultimate gatekeeper to Trump. If a reporter wanted to talk to Trump, they had to go through Hicks. But the thing about her was that she was not a public person, which is remarkable in this White House where everyone becomes a celebrity. Last year I did a story about her, and we were looking around for any tape of where she spoke publicly. And all we could find was this rally after the election where President Trump basically dragged her up onto stage.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You know, she's a little shy, but that's OK because she is really, really talented. Hope, say a couple of words.

(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

KEITH: And for a brief moment, she took center stage.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HOPE HICKS: Hi. Merry Christmas, everyone. And thank you, Donald Trump.

SHAPIRO: And she also didn't have a background in politics. Talk about how she entered the Trump orbit in the first place.

KEITH: Yeah, so she came into Trump's orbit by way of Ivanka Trump. She was brought into the Trump organization to work for Ivanka. She before that had been at a PR firm where she was doing work for Ivanka's fashion line. And here's the other fun fact about Hope Hicks. Her - when she was a teenager, she was a fashion model.

SHAPIRO: There has been a nearly unprecedented amount of turnover in the White House, including in the job of communications director. Hope Hicks was, depending how you count it, the fourth or fifth person to hold the job since Trump became president. Do you think this portends yet more turnover, a larger staff shakeup?

KEITH: You know, the Trump White House is in a permanent state of flux. On any given day, there are multiple names out there who are thought to be in trouble or potentially on their way out. This one wasn't necessarily expected, but the Trump administration is setting records for staff turnover.

SHAPIRO: NPR's Tamara Keith speaking with us from the White House. Thanks, Tam.

KEITH: You're welcome.