Sarah Huckabee Sanders tried to defend her boss the only way she knew how, by spinning the already confusing things he said and lied about to create an even more confusing mess.
In the wake of the first terrorist attack in Manhattan since 9/11, President Donald Trump has launched a campaign to politicize the tragic deaths of eight people in favor of tougher immigration policies. Trump separated The Diversity Visa lottery program, under which terrorist suspect Sayfullo Saipov became a legal resident of the United States in 2010, on Tuesday.
The terrorist came to our country through Chuck Schumer beauty called “Diversity Visa Lottery Program”. I want based on merit.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2017
During a press briefing on Wednesday, it was Sanders’ job to try to make sense of the political response to the tragedy in late October, after Trump refused to “politicize the tragedy” after a gunman opened fire on a Las Vegas concert on the first day of the month. . All the White House press secretary could do was confuse the press about what Trump said.
Sarah Sanders now claims that the White House did not politicize the attack in New York. Despite this tweet. https://t.co/0YEzuEHgSD — Sara Murray (@SaraMurray) November 1, 2017
Sanders insists that Trump did not politicize the tragedy by tweeting at Senator Schumer and sparking a political debate over immigration.
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) November 1, 2017
Trump called the justice system “a laughing stock” on camera.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders said it never happened. pic.twitter.com/7YcGcx015E
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) November 1, 2017
The White House press secretary later tried to justify Trump’s position on the Diversity Visa lottery by claiming that the program had “no vetting system.”
Sanders just said there is no “vet system” for the diversity visa lottery, which is not true. — Philip Bump (@pbump) November 1, 2017
I know this is redundant: But Sarah Sanders is lying when she says the Green Card lottery is unverified. — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) November 1, 2017
Debunking Trump’s tweets and off-the-cuff statements is the most difficult task in Washington, but Sanders began completely misrepresenting his boss to protect him from negative press.
Sanders Clears Trump’s Tweets: “The President has not blamed Senator Schumer and does not feel the Senator was responsible for the attack.” — Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) November 1, 2017
As even Republican Sen. Jeff Flake pointed out, Schumer was actually part of the Gang of Eight trying to overturn the visa application.
Including the Gang of 8, actually @SenSchumer, eliminated the Diversity Visa Program as part of broader reforms. I know, I was there https://t.co/QQFJzPyRzC
— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) November 1, 2017
Sanders also got the basics down on Trump’s proposed bug-fixing program.
“Having a lottery system that randomly decides who gets the greatest opportunity in the world… And giving it randomly, no verification system, no way to determine who’s coming, why they’re here. , and it’s a challenge if they want to contribute to society,” he said.
But as reporters in the room pointed out, an immigrant selected through a lottery program is subject to judicial review. Department of State. When Sanders wasn’t lying about Trump’s misguided beliefs on immigration on Wednesday, he was refusing to condemn slavery.
WH’s Sanders: “I’m not going to re-litigate the Civil War. It’s disgusting and absurd to say that anyone inside this building would support slavery” — John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) November 1, 2017
And he continued the White House tradition of crying to the press:
