THE FATE OF PRESIDENTIAL PERSONNEL: Is there hope for Hope Hicks?
By Mona Austin
Hope Hicks gave notice of her resignation as the White House Director of Communications yesterday. The former PR Director for First Lady Melania Trump was a Trump family confidante who leaves the position with the blessing of both Pres. Trump and Chief of Staff Kelly. A talent like Hicks can obviously be an asset to a variety of organizations (particulary those seeking crisis management).
Hope, sources say, was already thinking about a career change. Ms. Hicks' leaders said the magic words to protect her reputation during the job search. She kept a low profile until her name came to the forefront of news because she dated Trump aide Rob Porter who was let go after being accused of abusing 2 ex-wives. Hicks had traversed public scrutiny until she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that she told "white lies" in her job. Then, two days later in an interview she did revealed she said no one on Trump's staff had met with the Russians. Major network news teams are not letting up. Now there are questions about her credibility, honesty and integrity when she was doing what many employees do everyday -- twisting the truth to protect their boss. Except in this case, Hope Hicks was a part of creating a deflection strategy to deny White House staffers met with Russians other than to discuss adopting Russian children. That's not a white lie. It's a mud-colored deep, deep dark one. There is "dirt" on her hands, which not only makes her a liar, but a potential liability to any employer that hires the former model. Her name is inextricably linked to special counsel Robert Mueller's on-going investigation into Trump's alleged connection to Russia that could keep her away from work. If she is not testifying before Congress she may continues to receive negative media attention.
Hope's debacle begs the question. . .
Does a job candidate being embroiled in controversy in a high ranking position help or hurt their chances of future employment? You would think that anyone who works in the White House in any capacity would have a bigger, brighter future. Is that the case for employees in the tainted Trump White House, a president who has the highest employee turnover rate among the last 5 presidents at a rate of 34%?
By the way, former FBI Director James Comey is teaching at Howard University. There may just be hope for Hope Hicks. to share her learning experience.
