President Trump misses longtime aide and ex-White House communications director Hope Hicks, according to a report.
“He obviously misses her and still talks about her often,” a West Wing staffer told the Daily Beast in an article published Tuesday, adding it was as if Trump was suffering from “empty nest syndrome.”
Trump had staff send Hicks a dictated message in which he wished “Hopey” well in the weeks after she left the White House in March, the news outlet also reported.
Hicks, 29, was Trump’s campaign spokesperson before joining the administration. She was previously an employee of the Trump Organization, starting with the company in 2014.
The time since Hicks’ departure has been marked by in-fighting among White House aides jockeying to be tapped for her former post.
In addition, tensions have been brewing within the communications shop over its inability to plug leaks such as the one that was reported on last week concerning a disparaging comment special assistant to the president Kelly Sadler reportedly made about Sen. John McCain’s, R-Ariz., health.
McCain was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2017.
“This is a culture problem,” an ex-Trump official told the Washington Examiner Tuesday. “You’re not going to stop the leaking by shuffling around lower-level staff. The only way to change the culture in the White House is if you start making changes with senior-level staff.”
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Monday foreshadowed possible personnel changes after Trump vowed earlier in the day to crack down on aides who leak information to the press.
