In her first press conference since July 2, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was once again forced to try to cover a new denial from Trump on Russian election meddling. Despite the fact that it had only been about 24 hours since Trump said he did believe that Russia hacked into email servers and interfered with the election process in 2016, which came just 24 hours after Trump said while standing next to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he didn’t believe they had, there’s now a whole new layer to the story.
Monday Trump: I don't see any reason why it would be Russia
Tuesday Trump: I meant "wouldn't"
Wednesday Trump: Is Russia still targeting US? "No"— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) July 18, 2018
ABC News correspondent Cecilia Vega asked Trump quite pointedly if he accepted that Russian hackers were still trying to influence votes ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. Trump said no. When she pressed him, he repeated that “no.” Then she asked him to clarify his statement, and Trump moved onto questions from another reporter.
Getting a lot of questions about my exchange with @realDonaldTrump today.
Yes, he was looking directly at me when he spoke.
Yes, I believe he heard me clearly. He answered two of my questions.
Here’s the full exchange: pic.twitter.com/F3QmDSFzpT— Cecilia Vega (@CeciliaVega) July 18, 2018
When asked about the exchange by NBC’s Hallie Jackson, Sanders insisted that Trump was saying “no” to answering more questions.
‘Actually, I’m interpreting what the president said, I’m not reversing it. I was in the room as well and I didn’t take it the way you did.’
MORE OF THIS: Sarah Sanders tries to silence an important question by @HallieJackson about the president's failure to denounce Putin by moving on to her male colleague, but @Jordanfabian yields his time back to Hallie Jackson — overriding @PressSec and her disgraceful behavior. pic.twitter.com/aGIS7mPvug
— Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) July 18, 2018
However, he did answer more questions, since he moved on to another reporter. This appears to be just another example of the White House officials’ willingness to repeat Trump’s lies and cover them by trying to explain them away using ridiculous excuses.
Here's the thing about what the @PressSec said about @POTUS "no" response: in the countless time I've been in the Oval or Cabinet Room or wherever trying to shout questions, I've never heard the president say "no' in order to get us to stop.
— Hallie Jackson (@HallieJackson) July 18, 2018
While that is nothing new, the president’s willingness to work with a foreign adversary who is actively attacking the U.S. through cyberwarfare grows more frightening by the day.
Featured image screenshot via Twitter video
