A Democratic Chairman just revealed the damning testimony Hope Hicks gave about Trump yesterday

President Trump’s former White House Communications Director testified to Congress yesterday, prompting him to indulge in a couple of Twitter meltdowns as he presumably ran through all of the worst-case scenarios of what she might reveal about his deeply corrupt administration. It now appears that he was right to be concerned.

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has revealed some of what Hicks said during her closed-door testimony. He released a statement on his website today which states that Hicks revealed that Trump is serious when he says that he welcomes foreign assistance to win elections.

“His invitation to foreign actors is so alarming that even one of his most loyal former aides, Hope Hicks, knew that the President’s statement was troubling. Yesterday, during her transcribed interview, Ms. Hicks made clear that she understood the President to be serious when he said that he would accept foreign interference in our elections. She also made clear that even she knew that such foreign assistance should be rejected and reported to the FBI,” Nadler’s statement reads.

The comments come in the wake of Trump’s borderline treasonous comments during a conversation with ABC News in which he said that he believes it’s totally fine to accept dirt on a political opponent when it’s offered by a foreign power. While one shouldn’t be totally surprised that the man who seized the Oval Office with the help of a Russian dictator thinks this kind of illegal behavior is okay, it is surprising that he is confident enough to admit it.

At the same time, one can’t help but interpret his remarks as a green light signal to foreign adversaries who want to help reelect him. The Russian intelligence apparatus will definitely try to repeat their misinformation and hacking campaigns from 2016, and rather than trying to stop them our president is implicitly emboldening them to do so.

Hicks’s testimony on this topic must serve as a wakeup call. The president is not joking when he talks about using our enemies to maintain his power. He is willing to do just about anything to maintain his greasy grip on power. This kind of behavior is absolutely impeachable, and he must be held accountable for actively undermining our democracy.

Read Nadler’s full press release here.

Natalie Dickinson

Natalie is a staff writer for the Washington Press. She graduated from Oberlin College in 2010 and has been freelance blogging and writing for progressive outlets ever since.