Fox communications chief Hope Hicks refused to answer questions from the House Judiciary Committee on 155 separate occasions during closed-door testimony, the committee chairman said Thursday.
The committee released a transcript of the hearing on Thursday afternoon. Prior to the hearing, President Trump directed Hicks not to answer questions about her service as a senior adviser in the White House.
Hicks was accompanied by six lawyers, including three from the White House and one from the Department of Justice. They objected to every question regarding Hicks’ White House tenure, with one exception. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) asked, “On your first day of work at the White House, was it a sunny day or a cloudy day?”
Hicks’ response: “It was a cloudy day.”
The White House has maintained that Hicks has absolute immunity from testifying about her White House experience. The Democrats on the committee have called that assertion a “sham” and a “gimmick” intended to interfere with its investigation into obstruction of justice.
Hicks was press secretary during Trump’s campaign. Asked if Trump had ever asked her to lie, she said she was never asked to lie “about any matters of substance or consequence.”
“But I’m also part of a press operation,” she said. “We’re often asked to put a positive spin on things, present the best possible version of events. But I believe I always did so with integrity.”
She also gave a few examples of insubstantial lies.
“I’ve said that the President was busy when he wasn’t,” she said. “I’ve said that he had a conflict when he didn’t. I’ve said that he would love to participate in an interview when I know that that would not be his first choice.”