National

Hope Hicks tells Jan. 6 committee that Trump dismissed her concerns about false election claims: 'The only thing that matters is winning'

Hope Hicks, who served as a top adviser to former President Donald Trump, told the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection that she told Trump him she was worried he was tarnishing his legacy by promoting the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen.

"We were not seeing evidence of fraud on a scale that would have impacted the outcome of the election," Hicks said in videotaped testimony shown Monday during the committee's final public hearing. "And I was becoming increasingly concerned that we were damaging his legacy."

Hicks was asked what the president said to her in response.

"He said something along the lines of, you know, 'Nobody will care about my legacy if I lose so that won't matter,'" Hicks replied. "'The only thing that matters is winning.'"

Hicks is a longtime confidante of the former president. She worked for the Trump Organization and his 2016 presidential campaign before serving in multiple senior roles in the Trump White House, first as White House communications director, then director of strategic communication and as counselor to the president. She left the White House six days after the Jan. 12, 2012, six days after the Capitol insurrection.

Her interview with the committee was conducted in late October. In introducing video footage of her testimony, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said that Hicks was one the witnesses who came forward after the panel's last public hearing to "tell us about their conversations with ex-President Trump."