Former Trump team legal spokesperson Mark Corallo had concerns that White House communications director Hope Hicks could be considering obstructing justice after a comment she reportedly made about emails between Donald Trump Jr. and Russians, according to a New York Times story.
Hicks allegedly told President Donald Trump on a conference call that the Trump Jr. emails “will never get out,” and Corallo plans to share the conversation with special counsel Robert Mueller, the Times reported Wednesday night, citing three people with knowledge of his interview request.
CNN previously reported that Corallo is scheduled to be interviewed by Mueller’s team in the next two weeks, according to a source with knowledge of the matter, and is expected to be asked about the Air Force One meeting in which the President and his staff crafted the statement responding on behalf of Trump Jr. to the controversy over the June 2016 Trump Tower campaign meeting.
The Times reported that sources said Corallo was concerned by what she said, and thought she was either being naive or implying that the emails could be withheld from the special counsel’s team.
Hicks’ lawyer denied that she ever said that in a statement to CNN.
“As most reporters know, it’s not my practice to comment in response to questions from the media,” said Robert Trout, a lawyer for Hicks. “But this warrants a response. She never said that. And the idea that Hope Hicks ever suggested that emails or other documents would be concealed or destroyed is completely false.”
The Trump Tower meeting between Trump Jr., Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort with a Russian lawyer whom Trump Jr. believed had dirt on Hillary Clinton has been of intense interest to the congressional Russia investigators as well as Mueller.
While aboard Air Force One, Trump took part in crafting his son’s initial response to the reports of the meeting, which was sent out through the Trump Organization under Trump Jr.’s name, CNN has reported. The Times also reported that the Trump team’s statement in response to the news is of interest to the Mueller investigation.
There are several investigations looking into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, but Trump has denied any collusion on several occasions.
CNN’s Kara Scannell, Evan Perez and Ariane de Vogue contributed to this report.
