Will Hope Hicks answer questions in House Russia probe?

WASHINGTON - Hope Hicks, one of President Donald Trump's closest aides and advisers, is scheduled to speak behind closed doors Tuesday with the House Intelligence Committee in a meeting lawmakers fear could deepen their standoff with the White House over witnesses refusing to answer questions.

Rep. K. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, who is running the panel's Russia investigation, said in an interview Monday that he "would not be surprised" if Hicks followed the example of other close Trump aides and advisers who have simply refused to answer certain questions, arguing that the president might want to invoke executive privilege at some point in the future.

Hicks currently works as the White House communications director, but her proximity to Trump and long history of working with the Trump family make her testimony potentially valuable to the panel's ongoing probe of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections. In particular, Hicks is likely to face questions about a statement she helped draft on Air Force One addressing a June 2016 meeting that the president's son Donald Trump Jr., his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and then-campaign manager Paul Manafort held with a Russian lawyer in Trump Tower. The misleading statement has raised questions about whether there was a deliberate attempt to obstruct justice surrounding the meeting.

But it is not clear that Hicks will answer the questions she is asked.

Conaway likened the possibility Hicks might refuse to answer questions to Attorney General Jeff Sessions' appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee last year, when he declined to answer several queries in case Trump might later want to invoke executive privilege. The argument did not sit well with senators on the panel.

The House Intelligence Committee is now grappling with a similar situation with former White House strategist Steve Bannon, whom House investigators slapped with a subpoena last month when he refused to answer questions about not just his time in the White House, but the transition period as well, on the rationale that executive privilege might later apply. Bannon has since returned to the committee, but maintains that he will not answer questions from those time periods that have not been preapproved by the White House.

The committee is currently weighing whether to hold Bannon in contempt for his lack of cooperation. Several Democratic and Republican members of the panel are eager to issue a citation, arguing contempt is necessary to demonstrate that congressional subpoenas must be complied with. But the decision depends on Conaway and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., reaching an agreement, and the two have not yet met to discuss the issue, Conaway said Monday.

Hicks initially was expected to speak with the House Intelligence Committee last month, but her interview was canceled in the wake of the dramatic standoff with Bannon that resulted in his subpoena. Conaway said he is not aware of any deal with Hicks to limit their interview questions in exchange for her appearance.

But committee members have been caught off-guard by Trump's close advisers before. Bannon claimed that his lawyers had agreed with a committee staffer that he would not be asked questions about the transition period or his time in the White House, an apparent deal no panel members were aware of or willing to honor. The panel is also currently grappling over what to do about former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who initially claimed that he was unprepared to answer the committee's questions and needed more time, but later informed the panel he would not return to complete his interview.

Should Hicks be willing to answer all the committee's questions, it would be a break from that recent pattern. She has already spoken with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's team.

"I hope that she'll come prepared to answer all of our questions," said top panel Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. "There have been other administration witnesses who have placed no limits on our ability to ask questions about the transition or their time in the administration. I hope that she'll be forthcoming in that way."