The Most Powerful People In Trump’s Washington: #1 Hope Hicks

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A 29-year-old, just three years removed from a gig with Ivanka Trump's fashion line (doing PR mostly but also a little modeling, too), can become the president's most trusted aide. With a boss who blew into Washington distrustful of the natives, Hicks is among the last of the original campaign staffers to remain by Trump's side. And in a West Wing where power is measured by proximity to the president, her presence there is a constant. Inside Trump World, she is regarded as a de facto member of the royal family, with all the deference that confers. “Hope is feared and revered in the West Wing,” White House counselor Kellyanne Conway tells us. But she remains unburdened by the baggage—nepotism laws, grand-jury investigations, brand stigma—that afflicts the actual Trumps. The key to her power? She avoids the spotlight and serves ruthlessly. It's been enough to help her evade the wrath of Trump and the scrutiny of the media (if not the growing curiosity of Robert Mueller). Even when scandal inches close, as it did earlier this month when the White House bungled the dismissal of staff secretary Rob Porter—who Hicks was said to have dated—she emerges, influence seemingly intact. For now, she's still directing (or deflecting) much of what comes at Trump. “To the public, she remains in the background,” says Conway. “To the president, she is front and center.”


The Most Powerful People In Trump’s Washington: #1 Hope Hicks