Donald Trump speaks to members of the media

Hope Hicks has been accused of lying to Special Counsel Robert Mueller during his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election by a former spokesperson for Donald Trump’s legal team.

Mark Corallo said the former White House communications director lied to investigators from the special counsel’s office about discussions that were had with the president on Air Force One after the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting was made public through media reporting.

Mr Coral said Ms Hicks told him she “handled” the crafting of a statement responding to the press reports about the meeting, to which he replied: “I just I listened to her yell and then I said, ‘Well you know you’ve probably made yourself a witness in a federal criminal investigation. Way to go, young lady.'”

“I just pointed out that the statement that they put out on Air Force One was inaccurate,” he added, saying it would make the president’s team appear “like they were trying to hide something.”

Meanwhile, it remains unclear to what extent Ms Hicks’ cooperation played in Mr Mueller’s 2016 report, as Wednesday brought another tense day on Capitol Hill as lawmakers wrestled over the handling of the final conclusions produced by Mr Mueller and later summarised by Mr Trump’s appointed attorney general, William Barr.

Criminals who worked for Trump Show all 5 1 /5 Criminals who worked for Trump Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Cohen Former lawyer for Donald Trump was sentenced to three years in prison on counts involving evading income tax, false disclosure of the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels and another hush money charge Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Paul Manafort Former campaign manager for Trump Manafort was found guilty in February 2018 of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account. The crimes occurred prior to his appointment in Trump's campaign Getty Criminals who worked for Trump George Papadopoulos Former Trump campaign adviser Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in October 2017. He had lied about making contact with a professor who claimed that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton. He was sentenced to 14 days in jail Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Flynn Former White House National Security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in December 2017. He had lied about conversations that he had with the Russian ambassador to the US during Trump's Presidential campaign. He was not given prison time due to his "significant assistance" to the Mueller investigation Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Rick Gates Deputy chairman of Trump's presidential campaign Gates pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in February 2018 AFP/Getty

House speaker Nancy Pelosi urged her fellow Democrats not to accept the verdict of the attorney general earlier this week.

“We cannot make a judgment on the basis of an interpretation by a man who was hired for his job because he believes the president is above the law and he wrote a 19-page memo to demonstrate that,” She reportedly told party members behind closed doors on Tuesday, calling for calm and a return to policy battles.

With renewed impeachment talk in the air, the House Judiciary Committee has meanwhile voted unanimously in favour of a resolution calling on the Justice Department to release all FBI files relating to obstruction of justice, kick-starting the Democratic fightback in earnest.

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Read The Independent's live updates from Washington on Wednesday below.