White House communications director Hope Hicks Hope Charlotte HicksSenate intel leaders said Trump associates may have presented misleading testimony during Russia probe: report Cuomo turned down Trump invitation to participate in April press briefing: report Trump shakes up White House communications team MORE on Tuesday declined to answer some questions from the House Intelligence Committee about the presidential transition or her time in the White House, mirroring refusals from previous witnesses, according to multiple lawmakers.

According to Democratic lawmakers, Hicks demurred at the instruction of the White House but stopped short of formally invoking executive privilege.

“We got Bannon'ed,” Rep. Denny Heck Dennis (Denny) Lynn HeckExclusive: Guccifer 2.0 hacked memos expand on Pennsylvania House races Heck enjoys second political wind Incoming lawmaker feeling a bit overwhelmed MORE (D-Wash.) told reporters, referring to former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon, who attempted to place similar limits on his testimony during two appearances before the panel in recent weeks.

Under pressure from lawmakers, Hicks agreed later in the day to answer some questions related to the transition period, according to Rep. Tom Rooney Thomas (Tom) Joseph RooneyHouse Dem calls on lawmakers to 'insulate' election process following Mueller report Hill-HarrisX poll: 76 percent oppose Trump pardoning former campaign aides Dems fear Trump is looking at presidential pardons MORE (R-Fla.) — but only because she had already broached those matters in a previous interview with the Senate Intelligence Committee.

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“The White House hadn’t realized that she had testified before the Senate on those issues — so whatever she had testified before the Senate she can testify [to the House committee],” said Rep. Pete King Peter (Pete) KingTrump holds private funeral service for brother Robert Trump at White House Cheney clashes with Trump Coronavirus Report: The Hill's Steve Clemons interviews Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney MORE (R-N.Y.), who said that there were phone calls between the White House and Hicks and her counsel during the interview.

Rep. Adam Schiff Adam Bennett SchiffTop Democrats call for DOJ watchdog to probe Barr over possible 2020 election influence Overnight Defense: Top admiral says 'no condition' where US should conduct nuclear test 'at this time' | Intelligence chief says Congress will get some in-person election security briefings Overnight Defense: House to vote on military justice bill spurred by Vanessa Guillén death | Biden courts veterans after Trump's military controversies MORE (Calif.), the top Democrat on the committee, said that once Hicks got the green light from the White House she answered "many" questions about the Trump transition period. However, he said, she continued to refuse to answer questions about the administration as well as "key events such as the fabrication of that statement about the Trump Tower meeting."

"All our questions about what went into that statement went unanswered,” Schiff told reporters after the roughly nine-hour interview concluded.

Hicks has been linked to some of the mostly highly scrutinized incidents of the Trump campaign, including an infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting during which Donald Trump Jr. Don John Trump'Tiger King' star Joe Exotic requests pardon from Trump: 'Be my hero please' Zaid Jilani discusses Trump's move to cancel racial sensitivity training at federal agencies Trump International Hotel in Vancouver closes permanently MORE met with a Russian lawyer with reported ties to the Kremlin.

Although Hicks was not present for that meeting, she reportedly helped draft Trump Jr.’s initial, misleading statement about the meeting that claimed he met with the lawyer to discuss Russian adoptions. News reports, however, later revealed Trump Jr. attended the meeting with the intention of obtaining dirt on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Democratic super PAC to hit Trump in battleground states over coronavirus deaths Battle lines drawn on precedent in Supreme Court fight MORE.

Even as Democratic lawmakers were filtering in and out of the closed-door interview expressing frustration, the White House insisted that it was cooperating fully with the committee’s investigation into Russia’s election interference.

“I’m not going to comment on any individual’s interactions with the committee,” press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday afternoon when asked whether the White House directed Hicks not to answer certain questions.

But, Sanders continued, “We are cooperating because, as the president said repeatedly, there is no collusion.”

Democrats complained bitterly that while Republicans were willing to subpoena Bannon to compel his testimony, they have shown no appetite to take that step with subsequent witnesses, including Hicks and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski Corey R. LewandowskiHow Trump can win reelection: Focus on Democrats, not himself Trump Jr. distances from Bannon group, says he attended 'single' event Bannon, three others charged with defrauding donors of 'We Build The Wall' campaign MORE.

Schiff characterized this as the “Bannon rule,” where the majority seeks to shake down a witness for more information only if it is Bannon.

The California lawmaker complained that Republicans refused his calls to issue a subpoena on Hicks earlier in the interview when she refused to discuss the transition period.

"This is not executive privilege, this is executive stonewalling," he said.

Republicans sought to temper those criticisms, saying that Hicks is cooperating with their questions about the campaign and that she presents a different case than the firebrand former Breitbart News chief.

“There is one difference: She is still a White House employee. He wasn’t,” King said.

“Since she has decided to answer questions based on that transition, she can’t be compared to Bannon,” Rooney said, adding that she is not under subpoena like Bannon was.