Despite the Australian anchor’s biased and contentious bravado, former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders held her own during a recent appearance on ABC News Australia.
From the start of the nearly 10-minute interview, intended to promote Sanders’ new book, “Speaking for Myself,” show host Leigh Sales was unabashed in her leftward attacks on the former White House spokeswoman.
After an introduction complete with ominous music dubbed over b-roll footage of Sanders during her tenure as press secretary, Sales’ first question to Sanders was whether her former boss, President Donald Trump, can “tell the difference between the truth and a lie.” At another point, she asked Sanders to admit Trump is guilty of “lying, ignorance, or insanity.”
Failing to ask Sanders much about the book, the combative Sales did ultimately set her sights on the author’s Christian faith.
“Your book makes it clear that you’re heavily guided by your Christian faith and family values,” the ABC anchor said. “How do you reconcile that with having been the spokesperson for a president who has misled the American people on everything from coronavirus to climate change, who boasts about grabbing women on the [expletive], who paid hush money to a porn star to keep her quiet about their alleged relationship, and who’s maligned the men and women of America’s armed forces.”
At that point, Sanders unloaded.
“I can tell you from my experience, when the liberal mob was attacking me, when the liberals were kicking me out of restaurants, making fun of my hair, my makeup, my fitness to be a parent, saying I should be choked, telling me that I’m ‘vile, not even human,’ it was the president who was defending me — not the liberal mob, not the elitists who claim to be all about women’s empowerment,” replied Sanders. “Donald Trump was the one who supported me, defended me, and encouraged me, and gave me confidence to take on that job.”
Sales ignored Sanders’ response and asked again how she can be a Christian and support Trump.
Sanders then told the ABC reporter she doesn’t “look to any individual person to give me perfection,” adding, “I’m not looking for a savior in politics.”
“I have that in my faith,” she continued. “There is no perfect person — only one — and as far as I know, He’s never run for office. I’ve never seen Jesus Christ’s name on a ballot. If I do, I’ll be sure to vote for Him. But the contrast is between two candidates. For us in the United States, it’s between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. I think Donald Trump has done a good job in four years of fighting for the American people and I think he will continue to do so for the next four years.”
Toward the end of Sales’ argumentative interview with Sanders, she inserted even more of her own opinions of Trump, asking the former press secretary how many times she lied during her tenure at the White House. Sales recounted the fact that Sanders ultimately acknowledged she had no basis for saying in 2017 that “countless” members of the FBI had lost faith in former Director James Comey, calling the misspeak a “slip of the tongue.”
Sanders, for her part, has owned up to the error.
“I write about this pretty extensively in my book,” she told Sales. “I actually encourage you to read it, because I think you would learn a lot about me and about the president.”