'Massive lie to the American people': Congressman says Trump enlisted Hope Hicks to cover up hush payments

On Thursday's edition of CNN's "OutFront," Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) discussed ex-White House Communications Director Hope Hicks' testimony before the House Judiciary Committee regarding President Donald Trump — particularly her claim that she did not know whether the denial Trump directed her to give about the hush payments to women during the 2016 campaign was true.

"I don't believe her, because that was such a huge fact that she was repeating on behalf of Donald Trump, and it turned out to be a massive lie," Lieu told anchor Erin Burnett. "When she realized that it was a lie, she was not able to talk about that, because she got that information while she was at the White House, and [the lawyers] objected to everything about her tenure at the White House, but she did confirm that essentially Donald Trump directed her to make this massive lie to American people."

"155 different times your committee says Hope Hicks did not answer questions yesterday," said Burnett. "And this went on and on ... objection, objection, objection, you were getting no answers."

"That is correct," said Lieu. "And I want to say that the unprecedented obstruction by the Trump Administration isn't just to the Mueller report, it's to everything. So for example, we want to find out why is the Trump Administration suing to eliminate health care coverage for Americans with preexisting conditions, can't get that. We want to know answers about the census questions, can't get that. And at Hope Hicks' testimony, they came up with this absurd claim of absolute immunity, which does not exist — no courts have ever found it. And just today the GOP's own star witness at a Judiciary hearing said that this absolute immunity does not exist."

Watch below: