How Will Hope Hicks Pay Her Legal Fees?
Hope Hicks has reportedly "racked up substantial legal fees" related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, but whether she will be on the hook to pay them herself remains to be seen.
The 29-year-old White House communications director, who announced last week that she plans to resign, hired Robert P. Trout as her personal attorney last September, according to Politico. Trout, a founder of the Washington law firm Trout Cacheris & Janis, previously worked for the Justice Department and as an assistant U.S. attorney in Baltimore. When contacted by Town & Country, he said he had no comment for this story.
The day before she announced her resignation, Hicks testified before the House Intelligence Committee on February 26, telling panel members investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 election that she had occasionally told "white lies" for President Donald Trump but had not lied about anything related to the Russia investigation.
“She’s in immense personal jeopardy,” one Republican close to the White House told Vanity Fair. “This is a sign the Mueller investigation is a lot more serious than any one of us thought.”
Richard W. Painter, who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush and is now vice chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said there are a variety of ways Hicks’s legal fees could be paid.
First, she could pay them or her family could pay them. According to her 2017 financial disclosure form, she had between $100,00 and $250,000 in a bank account and earned a salary of $141,417 from the Trump campaign and $21,830 for her work on the Trump transition team. When she began her role in the White House, her salary increased to $179,700, putting her among the highest-paid White House staffers. She’s reportedly worth about $200,000.
Another potential payment source could be a legal defense fund such as the Patriot Legal Expense Fund Trust, which a group of lawyers established in February to provide financial help for Trump aides involved in the Russia investigation. Although the Office of Government Ethics has signed off on such funds, Painter says they raise some questions. "The problem from an ethics perspective is that it gives the trustee a lot of power," Painter says. "People who are giving testimony that the trustee thinks is appropriate might get more money than someone else, and there are serious questions about whether the trustee should have the power to decide whether or not to pay."
A third option for Hicks could be to seek pro-bono representation from a lawyer who is willing to represent her free of charge. Once she leaves the White House, Painter says, the pro-bono route becomes available to her.
Lastly, President Trump could pay her legal bills himself. Hicks has been Trump’s trusted aide for a number of years, and when she resigned the president called her "outstanding," "as smart and thoughtful as they come," and "a truly great person."
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