The House Judiciary Committee released the transcript of former White House communications director Hope Hicks’s testimony on Thursday.
The 273-page transcript includes 155 separate instances in which a White House attorney present at the closed Wednesday hearing intervened to prevent Hicks from replying to lawmakers’ questions.
Almost immediately after the start of questioning, the White House attorney, who House Democrats permitted to attend the hearing, began to issue “objections” to questions asked by committee chair Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY).
For example, Nadler asked Hicks whether Corey Lewandowski was hired as an official in the White House.
White House attorney Michael Purpura immediately objected.
“It’s a matter of public record. Why would you object?” Nadler asked.
Purpura replied: “Ms. Hicks may not be compelled to speak about events that occurred during her service as a senior adviser to the President.”
Nadler dismissed Purpura’s reasoning as “absolute nonsense as a matter of law,” but the objections appear to have prevented Hicks from replying to many of House Democrats’ questions.
Hicks also told lawmakers that she has spoken with Trump “somewhere between five and 10” times since she left the White House. She specified that the last time they spoke was at an April dinner. She did not reply to a question about whether they discussed ongoing congressional investigations after attorneys objected.
Read the full transcript here:
But there was nothing to redact? She didn’t answer anything.
Barr would redact her failure to answer.
The administration is down with waterboarding, isn’t it? The committee could allow her to bring her posse of lawyers.
Rep Nadler: “Ms. Hicks, did you use deionized, distilled, or just plain tap water when steaming the President’s trousers?”
Purpura: “Ms. Hicks may not be compelled to speak about events that occurred during her service as a senior adviser to the President.”
Nadler: “Refusal to answer is an outrageous misreading of the law and an affront to the entire institution of the United States Congress! But anyway let’s move on to the next question”