Hope Hicks, one of President Trump’s closest confidants and top aides, is discussing resigning before he leaves office, CNN reports.

She has told people if she does, she would likely leave within the next 48 hours.

Hope Hicks, who left the White House in 2018, is returning as a senior aide to President Trump, Bloomberg reports.

The White House says she won’t be communications director this time and will instead be “doing projects” with Jared Kushner and White House political director Brian Jack.

New York Times: “Her return will come as his re-election campaign intensifies and as his advisers say the superstitious president has talked about recreating some aspects of that first race.”

“President Trump’s campaign and the RNC have paid more than $600,000 in legal fees to the law firm that represents Hope Hicks,” CNN reports.

CNN: “Once the President’s closest West Wing confidante — the recipient of his repeated phone calls, the witness to his angriest moments, and according to other campaign aides, the person who steamed wrinkles out of his pants — sources now say their relationship has changed. Instead of carrying out a near-constant conversation, they rarely speak.”

“The once-close pair’s communication first slowed, then came to a virtual halt, after she left the White House. She told those around her that it wasn’t a representation of her feelings toward the man she worked for, but a desire to distance herself from the orbit she had occupied for so long: his. There were several times when she didn’t return Trump’s call. According to two people familiar with his remark, Trump asked on multiple occasions, ‘What happened to Hope?'”

A source tells CNN that the White House has directed former communications director Hope Hicks not to turn over documents related to her time in the administration to the House Judiciary Committee.

However, Hicks still could turn over documents the committee has requested related to the 2016 Trump campaign, as that period cannot be covered by executive privilege.

Associated Press: “Trump was incensed by reports Tuesday that some of his closest former aides, including ex-communications director Hope Hicks, for whom the president has long had a soft spot, were being subpoenaed to testify.”

“The race to become the next White House Communications Director has degenerated into a round of backstabbing and factionalism that has taken aback even the most jaded of White House aides and allies,” the Daily Beast reports.

“One White House official described the contest to replace departing Trump adviser Hope Hicks as being well into its ‘smear campaign stage.’ Another senior administration official dubbed it as a ‘battle royale.’ And a Republican official close to the White House bemoaned yet another heavy shot of ‘palace intrigue and backstabbing’ in an administration uniquely notorious for both.”

Stuart Stevens: “Every job process involving this White House quickly slides into contest of who is most willing to degrade themselves the most for a job they will later be ashamed of holding. It’s why the available talent pool is so limited.”

New York Magazine runs a great profile of former White House communications director Hope Hicks.

“Hicks took out one of her notebooks, black leather with the Trump name embossed in gold on the front. She’d prayed a lot over the weekend, and also written two lists in the same bubbly print that had recently been photographed on a note card in Trump’s hand, reminding him to tell survivors of a school shooting, among other things, ‘I hear you.’ One list contained reasons to resign as White House communications director immediately; the other, reasons to wait to resign. Not resigning at all wasn’t a consideration.”

“Hope Hicks told the House Intelligence Committee last week that one of her email accounts was hacked,” NBC News reports.

“Under relatively routine questioning from Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) about her correspondence, Hicks indicated that she could no longer access two accounts: One she used as a member of President Trump’s campaign team and a personal account.”

New York Times: “She has told friends that, for now, she has no definite ideas for her life after the West Wing, except that she will not be living in Washington. An extended vacation with her family is planned. Book agents have come calling, but Ms. Hicks has told acquaintances that she is reluctant to write anything — although she has joked that a massive advance could change her mind.”

A White House insider tells the Daily Mail that Hope Hicks has been secretly keeping what was described as a “detailed diary of her White House work, and her interactions with the president.”

Said the source: “Hope’s one of Donald Trump’s most loyal colleagues and friends. She’s not one to destroy that relationship. And she is certainly under some sort of nondisclosure agreement. Moreover, the various investigations by the special counsel and Congress could target her. So she has to be very careful about jumping into any deals.”

President Trump’s lawyers “have urged him not to discuss details of the unfolding Russia investigation with people outside his legal team, warning of a conversational ‘bright line’ that could place aides and associates in legal jeopardy,” Politico reports.

“But Trump often ignores that legal advice in the presence of senior aides — including his departing confidante and White House communications director, Hicks.”

Said a senior administration official: “I think the president has put her in a very precarious position.”

“Hicks is not alone. Current and former Trump aides describe a president who often fails to observe boundaries about the Russia probe and who calls staffers into his office and raises the subject without warning.”