White House officials are on the hunt for a replacement for communications director Hope Hicks, who stunned reporters and many of her West Wing colleagues on Wednesday by announcing her resignation.
Hicks was one of just three “originals” left in the White House — staffers who spent the entirety of the 2016 election inside Trump’s close circle of advisers and later relocated from New York to Washington to join his administration. Her exit leaves the president with one less confidante who knows how to work around his habits and impulses, as opposed to trying to change him.
“I will miss having her by my side,” Trump said in a statement Wednesday. “She is as smart and thoughtful as they come, a truly great person.”
A Republican close to Trump described Hicks’ departure as “one gigantic blow” to the White House. Unlike former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski or her predecessor Anthony Scaramucci, both of whom have continued to advise the president from the outside, the source said it’s unlikely Hicks will maintain similar proximity — not because she can’t, but because she’s eager to get away from it all.
White House aides would not specify on Thursday whether Hicks would remain in her position until a permanent replacement was found, or whether an acting communications director would take over while the search for a replacement continued. Press secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday that Hicks’ final day in the West Wing would not come for several weeks, but noted the exact timing of her exit had not yet been set.
But two sources close to the White House told the Washington Examiner that Mercedes Schlapp, currently strategic communications director, was the clear front-runner to replace Hicks. Her husband, American Conservative Union Chair Matt Schlapp, said Thursday that she would be “very open” to the promotion if the president were to approach her about it.
Mercedes Schlapp was a Fox News contributor before she joined the White House and worked previously as director of specialty media for the George W. Bush administration. She has frequently appeared on cable news to defend the president and emerged as a key voice inside the White House press shop soon after joining last year. Schlapp did not respond to a request for comment.
Before Hicks was appointed communications director, White House aides struggled to find a seasoned outsider to fill the position.
The departures of former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, Mike Dubke and Scaramucci — the three men who had done the job before Hicks — in the span of just a few months had a chilling effect on the hiring process last fall. Sources told the Washington Examiner at the time that outside candidates who were contacted by the president’s staff expressed little interest in taking a position where they were not guaranteed the authority to bring in their own team. And Trump’s tendency to serve as his own spokesman created an environment in which a prospective communications director would need to subvert his or her messaging strategy to the Twitter feed of an often volatile president.
Thus, two additional names that have been floated since Hicks resigned are women who already have experience navigating the complex task of packaging Trump’s message. One White House official mentioned senior counselor Kellyanne Conway and deputy communications director Jessica Ditto as possible contenders.
But another source close to the White House said Ditto is not under consideration. The same source said Sanders is also in the mix.
Conway, a cable news staple who led Trump to victory against Hillary Clinton in 2016, has been one of the staunchest public defenders of the president in times of crisis. The former pollster had nothing but praise for Hicks during a “Fox and Friends” appearance Thursday morning, describing her as “enormously effective” and someone who channeled Trump’s voice “when it came to passing major initiatives like tax reform.” Like Hicks, Conway has developed a unique connection with Trump and remains one of the only senior White House staffers who has not resigned or been fired.
“I’m the face of Donald Trump’s movement,” she once proudly declared.
However, asked Friday if she would make the switch to communications director, Conway told Fox News she’s already rejected the position more than once: “I’ve been offered that job many times and no, I work on policy here at the White House.”
Should Conway, Schlapp, and Ditto decline to take or be passed over for the role, the president’s chief of staff John Kelly could turn to someone on the outside. Politico reported Wednesday that Kelly favors Schlapp but also began weighing “external candidates” last week when he was informed of Hicks’ plan to resign.
Some Trump allies have reportedly floated Jason Miller, who was set to become White House communications director but wound up joining the consulting firm Teneo after he was accused of fathering a child from an extramarital affair with former Trump adviser A.J. Delgado. Miller later confirmed the rumors.
At least one other outsider — Brian Lanza, who ran communications for Trump’s transition team — is also being considered to replace Hicks, according to the same source who said Ditto is not.
Lanza previously served as communications director for Citizens United, an advocacy group run by David Bossie, who has frequently been spotted visiting the president and worked closely with Hicks during the 2016 campaign.
Hicks’ unexpected departure on Wednesday came just as another key communications aide announced his plans to leave the White House.
Josh Raffel, a public relations operative who became the internal spokesman for Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, unveiled his impending exit on Tuesday just as Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and top adviser, faced a downgrade of his top secret security clearance amid problems with his FBI background check.
Hicks and Raffel were both close personal friends to Kushner and Ivanka, in addition to serving beside them in the West Wing.
