It’s the culture that’s frightening. A culture that says don’t apologize for the obvious but berate the staff for leaking the truth. That’s what Sarah Sanders did yesterday. And guess what? The berating leaked too.
At the least, one might think a simple apology would be in order. At worst, terminate the White House staffer who disparaged John McCain. If you haven’t heard the story by now, on Thursday, a White House aide dismissed Senator McCain’s lack of support for the CIA nominee by saying, “he’s dying anyway.” Since then, the White House focus has been on the leak, not the act.
From CNN:
- Both publicly and privately, according to the sources, Sanders has focused more on the leaking of the comment than its substance.
- In Friday’s White House press briefing, Sanders repeatedly said she would not “validate a leak” or comment on an internal staff meeting.
Sarah Sanders began a White House communications team meeting on Friday by saying, “I am sure this conversation is going to leak, too. And that’s just disgusting.” https://t.co/hYxxHMfZDO
— Axios (@axios) May 12, 2018
Dear @PressSec: One way to prevent leaks is if Administration officials stopped saying demeaning things, stopped wasting taxpayer funds, and started behaving normally. Then the leaks wouldn't be of interest to the American people. Get it? https://t.co/5LZMETpvsN
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) May 12, 2018