House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler issued subpoenas Tuesday to Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson, both former Trump White House employees, demanding they turn over documents he’s seeking from their time working for the president’s team.
They were among the 81 persons or entities in the Trump orbit that Mr. Nadler demanded documents from earlier this year.
Mr. Nadler said he wants both documents and testimony from Ms. Hicks, who served as the president’s communications chief, and Ms. Donaldson, who was chief of staff to former White House Counsel Don McGahn.
“I have issued these subpoenas today to two critical witnesses who have worked closely with the president,” Mr. Nadler said. “We are seeking the information in order to conduct proper oversight, consider potential legislation and perform our constitutional duties.”
Earlier Tuesday Mr. McGahn defied a subpoena from Mr. Nadler demanding he appear to testify about his actions and interactions with President Trump during the special counsel’s investigation.
Ms. Donaldson’s thorough notes of goings-on at the White House provided some of the juiciest moments of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
Ms. Hicks, meanwhile, was a key Trump aide during the campaign and in the early months of his time in the White House.
Mr. Nadler figures they were involved in nearly every major flashpoint from those early months. He asked them to turn over documents related to the firings of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and one-time FBI Director James Comey; discussions over firing former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Mr. Mueller; interactions with former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen over hush payments made to porn stars; anything they had on one-time plans to open a Trump Tower in Moscow; and a host of other matters.
After she left the White House last year, Ms. Hicks took a job with New Fox, the successor to 21st Century Fox, as executive vice president and chief communications officer.
She left the White House in February 2018 amid expanding probes into the 2016 presidential election and possible Russian collusion. Just before her resignation, Ms. Hicks testified privately for more than eight hours to the House Intelligence Committee in a probe of possible Russian interference in the election.
Ms. Hicks’ lawyer declined to comment Tuesday afternoon.
• Dave Boyer contributed to this article.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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