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Interim White House communications director Hope Hicks.
Interim White House communications director Hope Hicks has retained her own lawyer to represent her in the ongoing Russia investigation, Politico reported Friday night.
Hicks was among several close aides to President Donald Trump who were under closer scrutiny amid special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of the Trump campaign's ties to Russia during the 2016 election.
The 28-year-old protégé reportedly hired Robert Trout, a respected attorney who also served for four years as assistant US attorney in Baltimore.
Trout's hiring follows a Washington Post report which said Mueller was interested in interviewing six current and former Trump aides for his investigation.
The aides were believed to be potential witnesses to key events that took place before Trump took office and in the first months of his presidency - including a 2016 meeting with a Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer, the controversial firing of FBI director James Comey, and conversations surrounding the ouster of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Hicks casts a long shadow within Trump's inner circle, having started as a staffer on the campaign before working her way up to interim White House communications director during a turbulent summer that saw heavy turnover in the West Wing.