Hope Hicks reportedly volunteers to tell Trump bad news because he takes it better from her

Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

U.S. President Donald Trump confers with White House Communications Director Hope Hicks during an interview with Reuters at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 17, 2018.

• White House communications director Hope Hicks has reportedly volunteered to tell Donald Trump about negative stories.
• Hicks' relationship with Trump is being heavily analyzed after the revelation that special counsel Robert Mueller is zeroing in on her as part of his Russia investigation.
• Hicks is best known for her effectiveness in reading Trump's moods and approaching him with tact.

Hope Hicks, the White House communications director and right-hand woman to President Donald Trump, reportedly volunteers for one of the least coveted tasks incumbent upon his aides - informing Trump about negative stories.

"She always has impeccable timing," Jason Miller, the Trump campaign's former senior communications adviser, told Town & Country Magazine. "When a bad story would come up, she would volunteer, saying, 'I'll just go and tell him; I got it.' We all had to do it, she was just better at it."

A "close family friend" told the magazine that Hicks is good at giving her elders advice, becuase she's "smooth and direct, you know where she stands, and she's never confrontational."

Trump himself has previously conceded that Hicks has a way with words and a knack for approaching him tactfully, telling The New York Times in 2016 that he was "lucky to have her."

"She will often give advice, and she'll do it in a very low-key manner, so it doesn't necessarily come off in the form of advice," Trump said. "But it's delivered very nicely."

Hicks' relationship with Trump has been closely scrutinized in recent weeks, after news surfaced that special counsel Robert Mueller has begun focusing on her in the Russia investigation.

Her critics have accused her of enabling Trump's worst instincts, while her supporters argue that she's highly effective at reading the president's moods.

One former Trump campaign official likened Hicks to Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton's most trusted aide.

"She does everything from big important conversations to getting a cup of coffee … or whatever it takes to make [Trump] succeed in the moment. She puts his success above her own," the official told Town & Country.

Though Hicks is frequently underestimated, partly due to her youth and lack of prior political experience, observers say she's highly competent and has worked her way into a position of immense power.

"A lot of people who may have underestimated her are now working with her and through her to get what they need from this administration," Michael Feldman, a former Clinton White House official, told the magazine.