At the end of a long week of political firestorms that saw numerous national security staff ousted or resigned, news that Trump’s own lawyer had been raided by the FBI and is under criminal investigation, and Twitter meltdowns galore from the current U.S. president, the most ironic moment came with no surprise from White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Before questions even began being lobbed at Sanders about the White House’s reaction to clips of James Comey’s upcoming interviews around his book, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership, Sanders was ready with a list of disparaging insults to hiss about the former FBI director. Calling him a “liar” with “credibility problems,” Sanders raged against the endless media coverage of a man she believes is self-serving and damaging to the political process.
In case you missed it, that’s the sound of irony dying.
From the White House press room podium, Sanders railed against Comey in a well-orchestrated attack echoed across Fox News and Trump supporters’ soundbites ahead of Comey’s scheduled appearances.
‘The American people see right through the blatant lies of a self-admitted leaker. This is nothing more than a poorly executed P.R. Stunt by Comey to desperately rehabilitate his tattered reputation and enrich his own bank account by peddling a book that belongs in the bargain bin of the fiction section instead of being remembered as a dedicated servant in pursuit of justice like so many of his other colleagues at the FBI. Comey will forever be known as a disgraced partisan hack that broke his sacred trust with the President of the United States, the dedicated agents of the FBI, and the American people he vowed to faithfully serve,” Sanders continued. “One of the president’s greatest achievements will go down as firing director James Comey.’
Known liar Sarah Sanders — press secretary for known liar Donald Trump — says the White House isn't concerned about the revelations in James Comey's book because he's a "known liar."
— Caroline Orr (@RVAwonk) April 13, 2018
As CNN reported early in January:
‘According to the amazing Fact Checker blog at The Washington Post, Trump has made 1,950 misleading or simply false claims since being sworn in as President on January 20, 2017. That’s an average — average — of 5.6 a day. Every day he has been President.
‘A quick bit of math suggests that Trump will go over 2,000 false claims for his first year in office sometime in the next week. It could happen even sooner than that if Trump decides to give another impromptu media interview; the Post counted 24 falsehoods in Trump’s 30-minute interview with New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt over the holidays.’
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is upset that the media is propping someone up, giving them endless airtime and covering his every little comment and appearance.
— Amanda Terkel (@aterkel) April 13, 2018
It’s as difficult to believe the accusations against Comey of lying as it is to believe that he leaked classified information. Thus far, the “leaks” the White House have pointed to are around a memo Comey wrote the night of the “loyalty dinner” with Trump, which Comey asked a friend to give to the media. Since that information was not classified, there is nothing illegal in Comey’s decision to make it public.
Polls show that the country disagrees with Sanders on the matter of credibility. A Washington Post/ABC News poll released on Friday shows that Americans afford Comey far more credibility than Trump by a margin of 16 percent.
See the full press briefing below:
Featured image screengrab via YouTube
