Sanders refuses to say that the press isn’t the ‘enemy’
WASHINGTON — During a testy White House briefing Thursday, a reporter challenged Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to counter President Trump’s claim that the American press is the “enemy of the people.” She wouldn’t.
The heated exchange between Sanders and CNN’s chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, came hours after Ivanka Trump unhesitatingly broke with her father in an interview, telling her questioner that she does not believe that the media is the enemy.
Acosta told Sanders, “I think it would be a good thing if you were to say right here, at this briefing, that the press — the people who are gathered in this room right now, doing their jobs every day, asking questions of officials like the ones you brought forward earlier — are not the enemy of the people. I think we deserve that.”
“I think the president has made his position known,” Sanders replied, proceeding to express her own disdain at length. She told Acosta that it was “ironic” that “you and the media attack the president for his rhetoric when they frequently lower the level of conversation in this country.”
Sanders said media outlets “incite anger” and have “personally” attacked her. “As far as I know, I’m the first press secretary in the history of the United States that’s required Secret Service protection,” she said.
“Tell that to the five dead people in Annapolis!” another reporter shouted, referring to the employees of the Capital newspaper shot dead in their office in June.
Acosta followed up, giving Sanders another chance to disavow Trump’s claim: “For the sake of this room, the people who are in this room, this democracy, this country, all the people around the world are watching what you’re saying, Sarah. The president of the United States should not refer to us as the enemy of the people.”
Sanders didn’t yield. She said she appreciated Acosta’s “passion,” but reiterated that Trump had made his position on the matter clear. Then she moved on to the next question. And, as the briefing ended, Acosta walked out.