The liberal media has never been a fan of White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, who routinely faces accusations of lying on behalf of President Donald Trump.
That line of attack against Sanders has been ramped up in recent days following the release of Robert Mueller’s final report, which outlined a misstatement made by Sanders about James Comey’s 2017 firing. And like a true journalist, former ABC News anchor and chief White House correspondent Sam Donaldson didn’t miss his chance to get in on the fun, asserting in a Friday interview that Sanders deserves a “lifetime achievement Oscar for lying.”
Slip of the tongue
Sanders told the media in May 2017 that the White House had heard from “countless” rank-and-file FBI agents who had lost confidence in Comey and were glad he was being terminated from his position as FBI director. But according to Mueller’s report:
Sanders told this Office that her reference to hearing from “countless members of the FBI” was a “slip of the tongue.” She also recalled that her statement in a separate press interview that rank-and-file FBI agents had lost confidence in Comey was a comment she made ‘in the heat of the moment’ that was not founded on anything.
Unsurprisingly, many pundits seized on those lines in the report as all the evidence they needed to assert that Sanders is a serial liar.
Indeed, in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Friday, Donaldson said all the White House press secretaries he’s worked with since former President Kennedy was in office — except Nixon’s, Ron Ziegler — have been totally honest with the press corps. That is, except Sanders, he says.
“I’ve never seen anything like this with Sarah Sanders,” Donaldson said. “There’s a difference.”
Donaldson explained that Ziegler lied in relation to questions about the scandalous Watergate break-in that ultimately led to Nixon’s resignation, but was largely transparent when it came to answering questions about domestic and foreign policy.
“On the other hand, Sarah Sanders simply lies about everything, taking a cue from her boss, not just about one thing,” Donaldson added. “I think she’s had an Oscar — lifetime achievement Oscar for lying.”
“Let’s face it, I don’t know her,” the journalist continued. “I feel a little sorry for her because it’s the boss who does it, she takes her cue from him… Leadership begins at the top, and so does all the bad things that happen in an administration.”
Smearing the spokeswoman
Donaldson also pointed out that Ziegler, as well as a press secretary for former President Ronald Reagan, would at times “make up things” to tell the media, such as innocuous quotes from the president that had never actually been uttered by the commander-in-chief.
“But making up ‘hundreds’ or ‘many FBI agents called here complaining about Comey,’ saying they were so happy he was gone, that’s a different kind of lie, that’s a different kind of quote,” Donaldson said. “Her lies are more than innocuous. They fester, and they serve the public’s, not interest, but disinterest in learning the truth.”
Still, Sanders has maintained that her use of the term “countless” was an inartful “slip of the tongue” that nevertheless had a foundation in truth; the White House had heard from “a number” of current and former FBI agents that supported the administration’s decision to fire Comey.
In the end, this is nothing more than the latest effort by the media to parse words in an effort to further smear an effective spokeswoman who presents blunt truths, even when the media isn’t happy to hear them.
Funny how the media doesn’t like it when their own dishonest “Fake News” reports are similarly picked apart.
No comments: