The White House has instructed former strategic communications director Hope Hicks not to give House Democrats any documents from her time serving as President Donald Trump's right-hand woman.

The order, which also covers former deputy White House counsel Annie Donaldson, came on the day the House Judiciary Committee set as a deadline for complying with a May 21 subpoena.

The latest escalation of the battle over documents and testimony also includes Democrats' demand for in-person testimony from Hicks and Donaldson, on June 19 and June 24.

Hicks' time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue could be covered by executive privilege, giving Trump a legal way to prevent her from testifying. But her time as his top daily campaign aide in 2015 and 2016 is likely fair game for Democrats probing the president's finances and affiliations.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler of New York said Tuesday that Hicks had 'agreed to turn over some documents to the Committee related to her time working for the Trump Campaign, and I thank her for that show of good faith.'

The House Judiciary has subpoenaed former White House Strategic Communications Director Hope Hicks seeking documents and testimony, but the White House has instructed her to defy the demands from Democrats

Hicks, 30, joined Trump's campaign from the Trump Organization, than followed her boss to the White House until she left for the private sector last year

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler is the tip of the Democrats' spear on investigations of Trump and his inner circle, which some liberal lawmakers hope will lead to the president's impeachment and removal from office

He said documents that left the White House months ago are no longer covered by privilege 'if they ever were.'

'Federal law makes clear that the documents we requested — documents that left the White House months ago — are no longer covered by executive privilege, if they ever were," said Nadler.

Nadler continued: 'The president has no lawful basis for preventing these witnesses from complying with our request. We will continue to seek reasonable accommodation on these and all our discovery requests and intend to press these issues when we obtain the testimony of both Ms. Hicks and Ms. Donaldson.'

Hicks was among those former White House officials who sat for interviews with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and his report is sprinkled with her accounts of key episodes, including the PR response to news of the infamous Trump Tower meeting with Russians.

But materials and testimony related to Hicks' government service will likely remain off the table, an administration official said Tuesday.

The Democratic-led judiciary panel is likely to include Hicks and Donaldson next week in a list of current and former Trump administration officials targeted for contempt citations. Those votes threaten to provoke a court fight over the powers of the executive and legislative branches of government.

Annie Donaldson, former chief of staff to White House Counsel Don McGahn, is facing the same demands for documents and testimony that thrust Hope Hicks back into the national spotlight

The campaign-era materials Hicks has provided to Nadler's committee are identical to what she shared with the House Intelligence Committee last year, when it was run by Republicans.

At the time, ranking Democrat Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who is now that panel's chairman, called it insufficient and threatened her with contempt proceedings.

Nadler referred to the document production as a show of 'good faith' on Tuesday, put predicted that Democrats will view it is too weak in the end.

Hicks Lawyer Robert Trout wrote the committee explaining which documents Hicks would provide – and which ones she would not.

He said documents from her time at the White House were off the table because they 'are potentially protected by White House confidentiality interests or subject to a claim of executive privilege.'

He listed email communications from the campaign period that she was handing over. One was an email regarding a call from chief Moscow architect Sergey Kuznetsov, a Russian embassy official. She had previously handed the email over to the House Intelligence Committee.

The subject line of the email was 'Message from Putin,' and it referenced a post-election call from the Russian president. After getting Kuznetsov's message the day after the eleciton, Hicks forwarded it to Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.

"Can you look into this? Don't want to get duped but don't want to blow off Putin!" she wrote,' according to the Mueller report.

Trout also says Hicks intends to withhold documents from the Trump presidential transition, since the PTT has 'declined to authorize counsel' to produce the documents, and that they, too, may be subject to executive privilege.

Democrats have subpoenaed Attorney General Barr for the full un-redacted report and supplemental materials, but also are trying to compile them through other means.

Asked if he thinks Hicks and Donaldson will eventually be held in contempt, Nadler told Politico on Tuesday: 'I assume so.'

Democrats issued subpoenas to Hicks and Donaldson last month after former White House counsel Don McGahn adhered to a White House directive and defied a similar demand to appear before the committee.

Hicks, 30, joined Trump's campaign from the Trump Organization, than followed her boss to the White House, where she became communications director, putting her near the center of key decision points. Upon leaving, she landed a job at Fox Corporation, parent company to Trump's preferred network, Fox News.

Hicks lawyer Robert Trout provided a response to the Judiciary Committee, and referenced the White House objections

Hicks provided an email regarding a call from chief Moscow architect Sergey Kuznetsov, which referenced a post-election call from Russian President Putin

As part of the initial skeleton crew of Trump's campaign effort, she was privy to an array of business and political information, and interacted with key players including McGahn, longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, and top campaign staff.

Hicks was among a group of 81 individuals and entities Nadler sought information from earlier this year as part of a sweeping investigation.

The demands covered events related to the James Comey firing, former national security director Mike Flynn, the recusal of former attorney general Jeff Sessions, a Trump tower project in Moscow, the response to the infamous Trump Tower meeting with Russians, and other topics. Initial indications were that Hicks was complying.

Donaldson served as McGahn's chief of staff. Her notes provided memorable fodder for Special Counsel Mueller's investigators.

She wrote of a 2017 internal meeting: 'POTUS in panic/chaos ... Need binders to put in front of POTUS. (1) All things related to Russia.'

And after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, Donaldson wrote: 'Is this the beginning of the end?'

The committee last month also voted to authorize subpoenas for former chief White House strategist Steve Bannon and former chief of staff Reince Priebus.

Nadler said last month that Donald Trump's conduct detailed in the Mueller report 'constitutes a crime' – and would be prosecuted were Trump not president.

Nadler, who has considerable influence over whether House Democrats go down the path of impeachment, made the stark statement at a hearing where McGahn adhered to a White House directive and defied a subpoena to appear.

With no witness present, Nadler read aloud passages from the Mueller report – including passages describing when Trump told McGahn to contact deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein and tell him to push out Mueller, and then later draft a memo stating that Trump never told him to fire Mueller.

'I believe that each of these incidents documented in detail in the Mueller report constitutes a crime,' Nadler said, of the report's 10 instances of potential obstruction.

Former White House counsel Don McGahn defied a House Judiciary Committee subpoena on Tuesday. Chairman Jerold Nadler vowed: 'We will not allow the president to prevent the American people from hearing from this witness'

'But for the Department of Justice's policy of refusing to indict any sitting president I believe the president would have been indicted and charged with these crimes,' he continued. Then he cited a letter from 900 former federal prosecutors who signed a letter saying Trump would be charged if it weren't for internal guidelines against a sitting president being charged.

'I believe that the president's conduct since the report was released with respect to Mr. McGahn's testimony and other information we have sought have sought has carried this pattern of obstruction and cover-up well beyond the four corners of the Mueller report,' Nadler said.

'The president has declared out loud his intention to cover up this misconduct. He told Mr. McGahn to commit crimes on his behalf. He told Mr. McGahn to lie about it,' Nadler added.