Everyone in Donald Trump’s orbit since he began his run for the presidency should be worried that the lies they’ve told to support him will catch up with them. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ lies may already have.
Former federal prosecutor says the Sarah Sanders interview with Mueller "opens up yet another branch" in Russia probe https://t.co/nHPjCgKwwY pic.twitter.com/oBGFpwZ5Bs
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) February 16, 2019
CNN discovered that Sanders was called to meet for questioning with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, possibly at the end of 2018. The mouthpiece for Trump’s daily lies to the public confirmed the interview. When asked about the how she handled the meeting, Sanders answered, according to Newsweek:
‘The President urged me, like he has everyone in the administration, to fully cooperate with the special counsel. I was happy to voluntarily sit down with them.’
BREAKING: White House press secretary Sarah Sanders interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller's office https://t.co/eZcaG4S8OG pic.twitter.com/MPZSI4RgNB
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 15, 2019
However, this interview makes obvious a whole new layer on the investigation. When Donald Trump, Jr. was outed by The New York Times for having met with Kremlin operatives in Trump Tower during the 2016 presidential campaigns, he offered a statement about that meeting that was later exposed as a lie.
Even more importantly in this context, Sanders repeated that lie to reporters.
Cynthia Alksne, who was a federal prosecutor and now works as MSNBC’s legal analyst, appeared on MSNBC and told host Alex Witt that this news opens up a “new branch of the investigation.”
‘They’re trying to find out if the president directed people to lie because what Sarah Sanders said in the press conference on August 1st in 2017 was that the president did not dictate the statement regarding the Trump Tower meeting when, in fact, he did…Did someone tell her to say that? Was she part of framing that? That’s interesting — there’s a bunch of other people who have the same problem’
"For Sarah Huckabee Sanders to be interviewed by Mueller is a bad day at the White house"
"Executive privilege goes out the window" – @rossi4va pic.twitter.com/UDMk3wDNAm
— TheBeat w/Ari Melber (@TheBeatWithAri) February 15, 2019
Although Sanders was not called to the mat at the time for her part in the lie, the entire story was soon exposed and obstruction of justice seemed to once again be on the table. The lie was exposed when Trump’s legal team wrote in a memo to Mueller:
‘You have received all of the notes, communications and testimony indicating that the President dictated a short but accurate response to the New York Times article on behalf of his son, Donald Trump, Jr.’
See the full MSNBC segment below:
Featured image screenshot via YouTube
