White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders hasn’t done a press briefing in over two weeks, with her last one dating all the way back to July 2nd. Today, she made her first appearance in the press briefing room in 16 days, and it was an absolute disgrace.
During the press briefing, Huckabee Sanders struggled to defend her boss and was clearly unable to keep track of all the lies the president has told over the last two weeks. In a room full of reporters who were hungry for answers after Trump once again defended Russia (after somewhat backpedaling yesterday), Huckabee Sanders buckled under the pressure.
Earlier today, Trump was asked if Russia was still targeting the United States, and the president very clearly responded “no.” And yet, Huckabee Sanders stood in front of reporters and denied the president’s actions. When CBS News’ Major Garrett asked Huckabee Sanders about Trump’s latest stance after his nightmare of a presser with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Huckabee Sanders said that Trump had actually been “saying ‘no’ to answering questions.”
That is just insane. How many ways can the Trump administration twist reality in order to save the president? The fibs just keep getting more unbelievable — and the press knew it, as the room grew louder in opposition. When Garrett followed up with Huckabee Sanders and said, “He does believe it is going on.”
Huckabee Sanders said:
Well, since there’s currently not an election today, not specifically, but we certainly believe that we are taking steps to make sure they can’t do it again, unlike previous administrations.”
The press secretary then rattled off several examples of what the Trump administration is doing to prevent election meddling. You can watch her lie to NBC reporter Hallie Jackson below:
It couldn’t be more obvious that America’s reporters are getting tired of this nonsense. Huckabee Sanders has become infamous for her own lies when she defends the president, as well as her tendency to ignore reporters. But in case you missed it at the end of that video, in order to deal with her tactics, the press joined forces today to make sure she didn’t get away with any of it — and it was a tactic that was widely applauded:
It happened! @PressSec tried to avoid @HallieJackson‘s follow-up questions by calling on The Hill’s @JordanFabian. But Fabian deferred to Jackson, so she could follow up. So many viewers have wanted to see this happen… unity… and today it did.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 18, 2018
This was a nice moment of press corps solidarity https://t.co/W8c7K8GYdm
— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) July 18, 2018
If the press continues to be so hard on Trump’s minions, we’re sure to see more resignations. Don’t be surprised if Huckabee Sanders takes another two weeks off after this disaster.
Featured image via screen capture
