The public record does not support treating Hope Hicks’s relationships with Rob Porter and Corey Lewandowski as equally established. Hicks and Porter were reported to be dating in early 2018 by multiple news organizations, including CNN and People-related coverage that cited photographs, eyewitness accounts, and people familiar with the relationship. The earlier claim that Hicks and Lewandowski had an on-and-off romance during the 2016 campaign came primarily from Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury and was not directly confirmed on the record by either person in the material reviewed.
Both stories became politically significant because Hicks was not a private employee by this point. She had risen from Trump’s campaign operation to White House communications director, putting her personal relationships near questions about access, loyalty, personnel decisions, and the handling of scandal.
The short answer
Hope Hicks was reported to have had two relationships with senior figures in Donald Trump’s political world, but the evidence is different in each case:
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
In Vogue: An Illustrated History of the World's Most Famous Fashion Magazine | $67.65 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
|
PEOPLE Celebrity Puzzler Superstars | $13.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
|
This Is Me: A Reckoning | $20.98 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
|
You with the Sad Eyes: A Memoir | $17.23 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
|
Somewhere for Me: A Biography of Richard Rodgers (Applause Books) | $13.93 | Buy on Amazon |
| Reported relationship | Period | What the public record shows | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rob Porter | Early 2018 | CNN and People-related reporting described Hicks and Porter as dating and cited people familiar with the relationship, photographs, and eyewitness accounts of the pair together. | Hicks did not give an on-the-record confirmation in the sources reviewed. |
| Corey Lewandowski | 2015–2016 campaign period | Michael Wolff reported in Fire and Fury that Hicks and Lewandowski had an on-and-off romantic relationship. Other outlets repeated or summarized the claim. | The claim was not independently corroborated or confirmed on the record by Hicks or Lewandowski in the reviewed material. |
A reported relationship is not, by itself, evidence of misconduct. The Porter story raised a specific institutional question because Hicks was involved in White House communications while Porter was facing public allegations from his former wives. The Lewandowski story remains more dependent on a published account and later speculation.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteHope Hicks’s place in Trump’s operation
Hicks joined Trump’s political operation before the 2016 campaign and worked closely with campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. After the election, she remained a central figure in Trump’s inner circle. The archived White House announcement dated September 12, 2017, identifies her as an assistant to the president and communications director.
#1 Best Overall
That role matters to the story. Hicks was not simply a campaign aide whose personal life was being discussed after the fact. As communications director, she was positioned close to the White House’s public response to personnel controversies. Her reported relationship with Porter therefore became part of a broader debate about whether private connections could affect official messaging or create the appearance of a conflict.
What was reported about Hicks and Rob Porter
A relationship reported during the February 2018 crisis
In early 2018, Hicks and Rob Porter were reported to be dating. CNN cited people familiar with the relationship. People-related coverage described photographs and eyewitness accounts that appeared to show the pair dining with others, leaving together, and displaying affection in a taxi. The coverage was contemporaneous with the White House crisis and offered more than a single published assertion, although it still did not amount to an on-the-record confirmation from Hicks.
The available reporting does not establish every detail of the relationship, including precisely when it began, how long it lasted, or what Hicks knew about Porter’s past. Those questions should not be filled in with assumptions.
Windows Errors? Fix Them Before They Spread
Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallOutdated Drivers Are Slowing You Down
One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchThe allegations against Porter
The relationship became politically explosive after Porter’s former wives, Colbie Holderness and Jennifer Willoughby, publicly alleged that he had subjected them to verbal and physical abuse during their marriages. Porter denied the allegations. He resigned from the White House amid the controversy.
It is important to keep the claims separate: the allegations concerned Porter’s alleged conduct toward his former wives, not Hicks. The public record reviewed here does not establish that Hicks knew about every allegation, knowingly concealed information, or was responsible for Porter’s conduct. The allegations should also be described as allegations and not as adjudicated findings.
Why Hicks’s role became a White House issue
At a February 2018 press briefing, reporters directly asked whether Hicks’s relationship with Porter affected her involvement in drafting or discussing statements about him. The archived White House briefing records Press Secretary Sarah Sanders responding that Hicks was not part of many of the relevant conversations and defending her professional role.
That exchange documents a conflict-of-interest question being raised publicly; it does not prove that Hicks improperly handled the matter. Sanders’s response also does not independently establish the full scope of Hicks’s involvement. The defensible conclusion is narrower: because Hicks was dating a senior White House aide at the center of a personnel scandal, reporters questioned whether she should participate in the administration’s messaging, and the White House argued that her role had not compromised its process.
The Tool Desk
Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →What followed
In March 2018, Vanity Fair reported that Hicks had been emotionally overwhelmed by seeing herself in headlines connected to the Porter scandal and was no longer dating Porter. The same report described deteriorating trust between Hicks and Chief of Staff John Kelly. Those details were attributed to sources rather than to an on-the-record account from Hicks, so they are best treated as reporting about the internal atmosphere, not as Hicks’s confirmed personal explanation.
What was reported about Hicks and Corey Lewandowski
The claim came mainly from Michael Wolff’s book
Hicks and Lewandowski worked closely during the 2015–2016 campaign. The central public account of a romance between them comes from Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury, which reported that the two had an on-and-off romantic relationship during the campaign.
The book is the source of that allegation, not independent confirmation of it. CNN, Vogue, Teen Vogue, and other outlets discussed or summarized Wolff’s account, which helped make the claim part of the public narrative. But repetition across coverage does not transform the original assertion into a direct confirmation. In the reviewed record, neither Hicks nor Lewandowski publicly confirmed the relationship on the record.
Rank #3
The May 2016 argument
Separate reporting described Hicks and Lewandowski having a public screaming match in New York in May 2016. CNN connected the confrontation to the wider reporting about their alleged relationship, and People-related coverage also repeated the incident as part of the campaign backstory.
The argument can be described as a reported public confrontation. It should not be presented as proof of a romance, proof that the relationship was ongoing at that point, or proof of why the two were arguing. People can have a tense professional or personal dispute without the surrounding speculation being established.
Later speculation about the Porter allegations
After the Porter scandal, an Observer summary of a New York Magazine profile reported that sources close to Hicks believed Lewandowski might have been involved in resurfacing allegations against Porter because of jealousy or unresolved feelings. Hicks declined to comment on the record.
This is a particularly important distinction. The report relayed unattributed speculation about a possible motive; it did not establish that Lewandowski leaked information, orchestrated the Porter story, or played any role in bringing the allegations to public attention. No such conclusion should be stated as fact without direct evidence.
Why the two stories are often combined
The relationships involved different periods and different evidentiary records, but they were combined in coverage because Hicks’s career placed her at the center of Trump’s political network. Lewandowski was a prominent campaign manager during the period when Hicks worked on the campaign. Porter was a senior White House aide during the period when Hicks served as communications director.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Rank #4
That proximity created a recurring set of political questions:
- Access: Did personal relationships affect who could reach Hicks or influence the flow of information?
- Message control: Could Hicks fairly participate in public statements about someone with whom she was romantically involved?
- Trust inside the West Wing: Did personnel scandals intensify existing tensions among Hicks, Porter, Kelly, and other officials?
- Media narratives: Were personal relationships being used to explain political conflict that may also have had organizational or ideological causes?
These are legitimate subjects for reporting and analysis. They are not the same as findings that Hicks violated a rule, that Lewandowski engineered a leak, or that Hicks knowingly protected Porter.
What can responsibly be stated
The evidence in one sentence
The Hicks–Porter relationship was supported by multiple contemporaneous reports citing people, photographs, and eyewitness accounts, while the Hicks–Lewandowski relationship was primarily a claim published by Wolff and repeated by other outlets without direct on-the-record confirmation from either person in the reviewed sources.
Safe formulations
- “Hicks and Porter were reported to be dating in early 2018.”
- “People-related coverage described photographs and eyewitness accounts of Hicks and Porter together.”
- “Michael Wolff reported that Hicks and Lewandowski had an on-and-off romantic relationship during the campaign.”
- “A public argument between Hicks and Lewandowski was reported in May 2016.”
- “Sources later speculated that jealousy or unresolved feelings could have been involved in the Porter story, but that speculation was not proof of a leak.”
Claims the evidence does not support
- That Hicks and Lewandowski’s alleged relationship is an established fact independent of Wolff’s account.
- That the May 2016 argument proves the two were romantically involved or explains the nature of their relationship.
- That Lewandowski leaked or orchestrated the Porter allegations.
- That Hicks knowingly concealed abuse allegations or improperly managed the White House response.
- That Porter’s former wives’ allegations were legally adjudicated findings. Porter denied them, and the article should preserve that distinction.
Sources and evidentiary limits
The official White House records are useful for establishing Hicks’s formal position and documenting the questions raised about her involvement in the Porter messaging. The relationship reporting comes from contemporary CNN and People-related coverage, while the Lewandowski claim comes principally from Wolff’s book and subsequent summaries of it. The CNN background report discusses the campaign-era allegations and the public argument; People-related reporting reproduced by Yahoo covers the reported Hicks–Porter relationship and surrounding context. The later account of internal tensions and Hicks’s reaction to the coverage was reported by Vanity Fair, while the speculation involving Lewandowski was summarized by the Observer.
Reading these sources together produces a more accurate picture than treating every claim as equally verified. The Porter relationship had stronger contemporaneous corroboration. The Lewandowski relationship—and especially any theory about his involvement in the Porter allegations—requires explicit attribution and caution.
Best Value
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Hope Hicks confirm that she dated Corey Lewandowski?
Not in the on-the-record material reviewed for this article. The claim that Hicks and Lewandowski had an on-and-off romantic relationship came primarily from Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury and was later repeated or summarized by other outlets.
Was Hope Hicks dating Rob Porter during the 2018 White House scandal?
Multiple contemporaneous reports said Hicks and Porter were dating in early 2018. CNN cited people familiar with the relationship, while People-related coverage described photographs and eyewitness accounts of the pair together. Hicks did not provide an on-the-record confirmation in the reviewed sources.
Did Corey Lewandowski leak the allegations against Rob Porter?
The reviewed reporting does not establish that. An Observer summary relayed speculation from sources close to Hicks that jealousy or unresolved feelings might have been involved, but that was not proof that Lewandowski leaked or orchestrated the allegations.
Were the Hicks–Lewandowski and Hicks–Porter relationships happening at the same time?
They are associated with different periods. The alleged Hicks–Lewandowski relationship was placed during the 2015–2016 campaign, while the better-corroborated Hicks–Porter relationship was reported in early 2018.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: Hicks’s relationship with Rob Porter was contemporaneously reported by multiple outlets and became relevant to questions about White House messaging during the Porter scandal. The earlier Hicks–Lewandowski romance was chiefly an allegation published by Michael Wolff, and later theories about Lewandowski’s role in the Porter story remained speculation. The most accurate account keeps those evidence levels separate.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
