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Trump's press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wants to be remembered as 'transparent and honest'

The press secretary also defended Trump's behaviour towards female members of the press

Chelsea Ritschel
New York
Wednesday 12 December 2018 16:41 GMT
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Sarah Sanders on her 'honest and transparent' legacy

Sarah Huckabee Sanders hopes she will be remembered as being “transparent and honest” during her time as White House press secretary.

Since taking over the role in 2017 from Sean Spicer, Sanders has been accused of misleading or lying to the media on numerous occasions.

According to PoltiFact, there are five confirmed times where the press secretary offered “false statements.”

One claim, that “President Trump in his first year and a half has already tripled what President Obama did (for African-American employment) in eight years” is untrue, as was her suggestion that “the president in no way, form or fashion has ever promoted or encouraged violence.”

And multiple other falsehoods given by the press secretary have been tracked by press organisations, with CNN fact-checking Sanders on-air during a briefing about a climate change report which was rejected by President Trump.

Sanders told Politico reporter Eliana Johnson during the sixth annual Women Rule Summit that she wants her legacy to be being remembered in a positive light.

“To do the best job that I could do to answer questions, to be transparent and honest throughout that process,” Sanders responded, when asked what she'd like her legacy to be. “And do everything I could to make America a little better that day than it was the day before.”

The press secretary’s response was mocked online, with some questioning whether Sanders knows the definition of honesty.

“I have to wonder about her definition of ‘honesty’...” one person wrote.

Another said: “Not even in the world of alternative facts. Nice try, Sarah.”

Sanders speaks during the sixth annual Women Rule Summit (Politico)

During the panel, Sanders also defended the president’s behaviour towards female members of the press.

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“The president has had an equal number of contentious conversations with your male colleagues, the president is not certainly not singling out women,” Sanders said. “I don’t always find the behaviour of the press to be appropriate either.”

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