Hope Hicks to Resign; Trump's List of Allies Grows Thin

Following reports that White House Communications Director Hope Hicks testified to the House Intelligence Committee that her job requires her to lie on behalf of Donald Trump, she will now reportedly resign from her position "in the coming weeks."

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

"Hope is outstanding and has done great work for the last three years," [Donald] Trump said in a statement. "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."

There is zero chance that he wrote that himself. Not only because it's far more articulate than he is, but also because he's reportedly furious with her over her committee testimony.

Donald Trump berated Hope Hicks, his White House communications director, for testimony she gave to US lawmakers this week during which she admitted to telling white lies on behalf of Trump, CNN reported on Wednesday, citing an ally of the president.

CNN's source described Hicks as Trump's "last emotional crutch," suggesting that her admission to the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday aggravated an already tense situation.

Hicks is often described as one of Trump's closest confidantes, and in other terms indicating her loyalty to him: "one of [Donald] Trump's longest-serving and closest advisers... a trusted confidante for three years, shaping his image, managing his moods and counseling him on nearly all matters, from the substantive to the trivial... a political neophyte who was fiercely loyal to her boss..."

With Hicks abandoning ship, the White House is facing the daunting task of finding its fourth Communications Director, after Hicks assumed the role from the ill-fated Anthony Scaramucci who took over from Michael Dubke. And Trump himself is facing a future with an ever dwindling list of allies.

Lots of people quickly discovered that Trump's veneration of loyalty only goes one way, and, as a result, he's becoming increasingly isolated. Even his trusty lapdog Jeff Sessions can only [Content Note: video may autoplay] take so much, and as Special Counsel Bob Mueller investigates "a period of time last summer when [Donald] Trump seemed determined to drive Attorney General Jeff Sessions from his job," last night Sessions "strode into a high-end Washington restaurant to dine with his deputy Rod Rosenstein and the Solicitor General Noel Francisco."

The symbolism was unmistakable: the three top ranking officials in the Justice Department appearing together in a show of solidarity on the same day Trump is publicly and privately raging about Sessions.

When Trump sees this photo he'll have to absorb a concept that some of his aides have been trying to impress upon him for nearly a year, since he first began telling them he wanted to get rid of Sessions.

The concept: Fire Sessions, then what next? Are you going to fire Rosenstein too? And then what after that?

Sources close to the situation say today feels different than Trump's usual rages. Sessions' allies are deeply concerned and Trump is totally fed up with his AG.

The undoing of Donald Trump's presidency might not be his corruption or his collusion or incompetence. It might be his utterly deplorable temperament.

That is, if he is undone at all.

But if he is, by his own wrathful self or anything else, Mike Pence stands coolly and calmly waiting in the wings. Shiver.