“He did nothing wrong,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday about the secret payments Donald Trump made to two women during the 2016 Election via his attorney, who just became a convicted felon.
The president did nothing wrong and is not concerned about the Michael Cohen or Paul Manafort guilty verdicts, Sarah Sanders said repeatedly to reporters at the White House Press briefing.
The briefing took place exactly one day after Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen were each convicted in two different federal cases of 8 felonies each.
No big deal.
“He did nothing wrong. There are no charges against him.”
Again and again.
Her tone was far more subdued, her language far more cautious, than in previous bellicose briefings in which she berated a room full of TV anchors and press scribes.
The Trump train’s going down.
She’s covering her ass.
Asked about the possibility of issuing a pardon to Paul Manafort, Sanders said the matter had “nothing to do with the President in any way.”
The line from the WH, now repeated four separate times from her about 10 minutes in: “He did nothing wrong. There are no charges against him.”
The White House Press Corps are challenging her and doing the job we need them to do. Watch this briefing.
White House Press Briefing with @PressSec Sarah Sanders – LIVE on C-SPAN https://t.co/YT8eSO0HDi pic.twitter.com/y5TJ5YYO4G
— CSPAN (@cspan) August 22, 2018
“As the President has stated on numerous occasions he did nothing wrong. There are no charges against him in this,” press secretary Sarah Sanders says about Michael Cohen's plea deal pic.twitter.com/LgcTmj38r3
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 22, 2018
Today Sarah Sanders suggests that because Trump hasn’t been charged with a crime, he didn’t commit one.
Under DOJ guidance, Trump can’t be charged with a crime while in office. Now that his lawyer has implicated him in a crime, the public must examine the evidence against him.
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) August 22, 2018
Narrator: It's not. He lied about this. He lies all the time.https://t.co/yPYIhG4dWi
— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) August 22, 2018
Sarah Sanders asked if Trump was lying back in April when he said, on camera, that he didn't know about the Stormy Daniels payment, given that he just told Fox and Friends, on camera, that he did.
Sanders called that a "ridiculous accusation" pic.twitter.com/p5ucAHcfa5
— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) August 22, 2018
Asked on whether Trump will pardon Manafort, @PressSec said she has no knowledge if it being under consideration.
— Franco Ordoñez (@FrancoOrdonez) August 22, 2018
Asked whether Trump lied, given that he denied knowing anything about the payments to women while the criminal information says he coordinated with Cohen to pay hush money to them, Sanders calls the question “ridiculous.”
— erica orden (@eorden) August 22, 2018
Sarah Sanders continuing the “nothing to see here” line. Trump hasn’t been chargedso let’s move on. This is madness.
— Touré (@Toure) August 22, 2018
Sarah Huckabee Sanders: “He did nothing wrong. There are no charges against him. He did nothing wrong. There are no charges against him. He did nothing wrong. There are no charges against him. He did nothing wrong. There are no charges against him. He did nothing wrong…"
— Matt Viser (@mviser) August 22, 2018
"That's not something that has been up for discussion," Sarah Sanders says, when asked if Trump will pardon Paul Manafort.
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) August 22, 2018
He literally admitted that he lied today. https://t.co/oU2rHpx7sd
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) August 22, 2018
.@PressSec keeps responding to questions about Michael Cohen by saying "no charges have been filed against" Trump.
That's the bar now.
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) August 22, 2018
Sanders asked if Trump is worried about what Cohen might say: "I don't think the president's concerned at all. He knows he did nothing wrong and that there was no collusion."
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 22, 2018
we should all start incorporating Sanders-like answers into our personal lives.
Feds: "Your student loans are past due"
Me: "Listen, I'm not going to get into a back and forth…"Editor: "How long is the story?"
Me: "Look, I'm not going to go through and do a count…" https://t.co/yt4paFoMoa— Astead (@AsteadWesley) August 15, 2018
Sarah Sanders’ automatic first response to every question is “we have discussed this extensively"
— Tom Namako (@TomNamako) August 22, 2018
.@PressSec's Wednesday talking points:
– The president has done nothing wrong.
– He faces no charges.
– There is no collusion.— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) August 22, 2018
REPORTER: The president says he only knew about payments "later on" but he's on tape discussing them BEFORE the payments. How do you explain that?
SANDERS: I've commented about this pretty extensively. The president did nothing wrong. There are no charges against him.
— Todd Zwillich (@toddzwillich) August 22, 2018
*gets pulled over for going 110mph in a 30mph zone*
OFFICER: Sir, do you know how fast you w-
ME: I don't want to get into a back and forth on that
OFFICER: You were going well over 100-
ME: I don't have anything for you on that
OFFICER: But-
ME: I'd refer you to outside counsel— Mark Berman (@markberman) August 22, 2018
Asked if the fact that Trump's hiring of felons violated his pledge to hire "the best people," Sanders says, "The president has employed thousands of people in his lifetime and had incredible successes…He's the president of the United States, I think he's doing quite well."
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 22, 2018
Asked repeatedly about public statements the president of the United States has made, his taxpayer-funded spokeswoman refers instead to his outside counsel
Asked if they can come to the White House to answer reporter Qs, she says they don't work there
— Mark Berman (@markberman) August 22, 2018
"The idea of an impeachment is frankly a sad attempt by Democrats. It's the only message they have going into the midterms," Sarah Sanders says.
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) August 22, 2018
Asked what the president meant when he told Reuters he could "run" the Mueller investigation if he wanted to, Sanders says words that do not address the question.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 22, 2018
I didn't get called on this WH briefing. My question: Can you guarantee the American people that President Trump has not committed any crimes for which he could be indicted? Either before the campaign, during the campaign, or after the campaign?
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) August 22, 2018
Trump denies telling Cohen to pay off women, despite being on tape https://t.co/0jxj7FCtrs
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) August 22, 2018
Asked when Trump "learned" of the payments to McDougal and Daniels, and whether there are any other payments to women, Sanders refuses to answer, refers the media to Trump's outside lawyer.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 22, 2018
SANDERS: "As the president said, we've stated many times, he did nothing wrong, there are no charges against him, and we've commented on this extensively."
Q: "Then why not report these payments?"
SANDERS: "Again, I'm not going to get into the back and forth details." (via ABC) pic.twitter.com/7PMOYZFFSx
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 22, 2018
Sarah Sanders says the Manafort case has nothing to do with the President and the White House.
Except evidence was presented that Jared Kushner received job suggestions from Manafort.
White House refuses to answer NBC News questions about when they last talked to Manafort.
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) August 22, 2018
NBC News: Several political pundits seem to suggest that the Cohen plea is his word against the President's.
Not true.
Here's Andrea Griswold, federal prosecutor, detailing the evidence they had and would have used to prove the counts involving the President at trial: pic.twitter.com/MFLuFxQO6k
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) August 22, 2018
It's worth noting that if she admits Trump lied — which he did, he's on camera saying he knew nothing of it and later saying he did — it means she also lied. Or, at minimum, that her boss straight up lied to her and did so for months. https://t.co/Sj08ChGihW
— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) August 22, 2018