According to The Hill, White House correspondent April Ryan taunted White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday, accusing Sanders of playing “street politics.”
The commentary from Ryan, a reporter for American Urban Radio Networks, came after she said Sanders was blindsided by Rudy Giuliani’s admission during an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity on Wednesday night that President Trump reimbursed his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen for the $130,000 payment made to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence over an alleged affair with the president.
Some of the questioning directed to Sanders As Seen On White House Government Site:
Q And secondly, on another topic in the news today. Can you explain why the President, when he spoke — when he answered questions from reporters a few weeks ago about the $130,000 payment from Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels, why the President was not truthful with the American people and with the people in this room?
MS. SANDERS: As Mayor Giuliani stated — and I’ll refer you back to his comments — this was information that the President didn’t know at the time, but eventually learned.
Q If I could take a broader view on this, because I know you can’t talk about the details. But can I ask you, when the President so often says things that turn out not to be true, when the President and the White House show what appears to be a blatant disregard for the truth, how are the American people to trust or believe what is said here and what is said by the President?
MS. SANDERS: We give the very best information that we have at the time. I do that every single day, and will continue to do that every day I’m in this position.
Q But the President — I mean, when the story first happened came out that Ty Cobb would be leaving and Emmet Flood would be coming in, the President said, “fake news,” said it was not true. When he talked about the prisoners in North Korea, he said the previous administration had failed to get them out. At least two of them were taken prisoner while Donald Trump was President. And obviously, the totally conflicting statements on the Stormy Daniels claim. I mean, these are statements that are just not true.
MS. SANDERS: There were a number of allegations — one in which he lied during congressional testimony. And has been continually, I think, had a number of contradictions since then, which I’ve pointed out, that the President said he has learned every day since firing Comey that it was the right thing to do, and certainly has been justified in doing so.
But again, going back to — the President, frankly, doesn’t have to have a justification. He can hire and fire whomever he wants. And he made the decision to fire James Comey. And that’s certainly a decision he stands by and one that he feels very justified in since.
