White House Comm Director Hope Hicks to resign

Hope Hicks, one of US President Donald Trump's longest-serving and closest aides, has planned to resign from the White House in the coming week, it was announced on Wednesday.

The White House Communications Director's resignation comes a day after she testified before the House Intelligence Committee regarding an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

"There are no words to adequately express my gratitude to President Trump. I wish the President and his administration the very best as he continues to lead our country," Hicks said in a statement.

Trump also praised her as "outstanding".

"She is as smart and thoughtful as they come, a truly great person. I will miss having her by my side but when she approached me about pursuing other opportunities, I totally understood. I am sure we will work together again in the future," Trump said in a written statement.

Hicks' departure capped her meteoric rise from Trump Organisation communications aide to the upper crust of power in Washington in just a few years, during which she sought to maintain a remarkably low profile for someone in her position.

Her resignation will undoubtedly reverberate for months to come inside the West Wing, where Trump will find himself for the first time in more than three years without the constant presence of his most loyal aide -- who is among the handful of aides who worked with the President at his company, during the rollicking campaign and into the White House, CNN reported.

The 29-year-old will now return to the private sector after being at the post of White House Communications Director, a label of prestige that can unlock top positions at blue-chip companies, six-figure TV deals and profitable, best-selling books.

Hicks was one of the White House officials involved in crafting the statement aboard Air Force One that claimed the President's son Trump Jr., his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort took the meeting with the lawyer to discuss US policy on Russian adoptions -- rather than because Trump Jr. believed the lawyer would provide incriminating information on Clinton from the Russian government.

She was one of Trump's first hires as he assembled a lean team of aides who would launch his improbable presidential campaign.

From then until his election, she was a constant presence by his side -- travelling to nearly every rally, hovering within earshot during interviews, and always prepared to type out a bombastic tweet as dictated by her boss.

Hicks, who first entered the White House as director of strategic communications, rose to the position of communications director after her predecessor Anthony Scaramucci flamed out in just 10 days, after attacking fellow White House aides in a vulgarity-laden interview.