Hope Hicks defies White House demand to ignore congressional subpoenas — turns documents over to House Judiciary Committee

President Donald Trump has vowed to resist all subpoenas coming from Democrats in the House of Representatives. Politico is reporting that on Tuesday, the White House ordered two former aides to defy subpoenas from the House Judiciary Committee: Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson. But Hicks has agreed to cooperate anyway, and according to Rep. Jerry Nadler (chairman of the Committee), she has already turned over some documents that were requested. Nadler is hailing Hicks’ actions as an act of “good faith,” indicating that he will continue to negotiate with her as well as with Donaldson.

Hicks previously served as White House communications director, while Donaldson was a top aide to former White House Counsel Don McGahn. The subpoenas, which called for Hicks to testify on June 19 and Donaldson on June 24, are part of the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation of alleged abuses of power by Trump.

In an official statement, Nadler asserted, “the president has no lawful basis for preventing these witnesses from complying with our request. We will continue to seek reasonable accommodation on these and all our discovery requests and intend to press these issues when we obtain the testimony of both Ms. Hicks and Ms. Donaldson.”

In contrast to Hicks’ actions, McGahn recently defied a subpoena from Congress. Next week, the former White House Counsel is expected to be held in civil contempt of Congress by the full House.

Although former special counsel Robert Mueller has concluded his Russia investigation and delivered his final report, Democrats in the House have resolved to continue investigating for possible obstruction of Mueller’s probe. Trump has stressed that he considers the matter closed and has no intention of cooperating with House Democrats.