White House Comms boss Hope Hicks to be grilled by FBI investigating Russian meddling

White House Communications Director Hope Hicks will be interviewed by FBI agents investigating Russian meddling in last year’s US presidential election, it was reported today.

Ms Hicks is one of President Trump’s closest and longest-serving aides, and is currently travelling with the president on a 12-day trip to Asia. She is not expected to be quizzed until they return, with Politico claiming the interview is scheduled for mid-November.

At 29, the former model and school lacrosse champion is the youngest ever to hold her position in the White House. She was at Mr Trump’s side throughout the election campaign and now works from a desk just outside the Oval Office.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team is said to be questioning West Wing officials “regularly and deliberately” in a bid to get to the bottom of allegations that the Trump campaign had ties to the Kremlin.

Investigators are especially keen to interview staffers who were on board Air Force One when a misleading statement about Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower in New York was crafted, according to CNN.

News that an interview with Miss Hicks was being set up came after Mr Mueller announced the first indictments in his probe against former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his business partner Rick Gates.

Details also emerged about a guilty plea by George Papadopoulos, a campaign foreign policy aide, for making false statements to the FBI about “dirt” on Hillary Clinton allegedly being offered by the Russian government.

There is no suggestion that the communications chief was involved in any wrongdoing.

The Special Counsel’s team is also expected to interview three or four other current White House officials as early as this week, according to an administration official. They have already quizzed former press secretary Sean Spicer and Reince Priebus, formerly Mr Trump’s chief of staff.

Although Mr Trump has made no secret of his anger over the Russia probe, sources say he has rejected suggestions by some close advisors to try and fire Mr Mueller.

One insider claimed it would be “political suicide” for the White House to stop cooperating with the FBI investigation, especially in the wake of this week’s unsealed indictments.