Trump ex-confidante Hicks in closed-door testimony to Congress

Hope Hicks, a former longtime aide to US President Donald Trump, began testifying to Congress Wednesday but Democratic lawmakers said she refused to answer several questions about her time at the White House.

The onetime close confidante to Trump ignored shouted questions from reporters as she arrived for a closed-door session of the House Judiciary Committee, as part of its investigation into possible obstruction of justice by Trump.

Her appearance is a breakthrough for Democrats eager to investigate the president, as it pierced the privacy shield Trump placed around the White House when he asserted executive privilege last month to bar cooperation from current and former aides.

The White House had made clear the night before, in a letter to the panel's chairman Jerry Nadler, that Hicks was "absolutely immune" from being compelled to answer questions about her time in Trump's administration.

Nadler told reporters that "Miss Hicks is answering questions put to her, and the interview continues." Other lawmakers on the committee expressed frustration at her repeated refusal to answer questions about her White House work, with congresswoman Pramila Jayapal saying she listened in the hearing as White House lawyers laid out their "absurd" claim of complete immunity for Hicks.

"She wasn't even allowed to say if she told (special counsel Robert) Mueller the truth," Jayapal added.

Hicks, who served as Trump's campaign press secretary and then his White House communications director, was likely to be asked about campaign activities, and the multiple incidents of potential obstruction of justice that were detailed in Mueller's report.

Mueller spent nearly two years investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 US election, including engaging in a propaganda and hacking effort to damage Hillary Clinton.

Democrats believe Trump may have broken the law as a candidate and as president.

They want information about hush money payments made during the presidential race to two women, including a porn star, who said they had affairs with Trump, and about several examples of possible obstruction of justice by the president that were detailed in the report.

Hicks was interviewed by Mueller's team in 2018 and her testimony was cited frequently in his report.

It included an episode in July 2017 in which Hicks recalled former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski telling her that the president asked him to meet with then-attorney general Jeff Sessions and "deliver a message that he needed to do the 'right thing' and resign."