Newly minted White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Wednesday that it is “absolutely not” appropriate to lie in her new position regardless of the circumstances.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate to lie from the podium or any other place,” Sanders said in response to a question from National Journal’s George Condon at the White House press briefing.
Her job, Sanders said, is to communicate President Donald Trump’s agenda and answer reporters questions as “honestly and “transparently” as possible “at any given moment.”
Sanders has appeared often at the White House podium this year as the deputy press secretary, but was elevated to the position of press secretary late last month after Sanders’ predecessor, Sean Spicer, resigned.
The question of truthfulness has been asked of all press secretaries at one point during their tenures, including Spicer, who also pledged to never lie from the podium. In his six months in the post, however, Spicer did stretch the truth more than once, including in an appearance in which he berated the media for what he said was unfair reporting of the attendance of Trump’s inauguration — although aerial photos and National Park Service officials indicated otherwise.
“It’s an honor to do this, and yes, I believe that we have to be honest with the American people,” Spicer said. “I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts. There are certain things that we may not fully understand when we come out, but our intention is never to lie to you.”
Trump has weighed in on the issue of truthfulness himself saying that “perfect accuracy” is not always possible from his surrogates after multiple officials contradicted themselves following Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey.
“As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy,” Trump tweeted in May.