Mueller report: press secretary Sarah Sanders admitted to lying to reporters

After Trump fired James Comey, the White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders repeatedly claimed in live press briefings that the rank and file of the FBI had lost confidence in the FBI director, and that “we’ve heard from countless members of the FBI” who did not support him.

Those statements had no basis in fact, Sanders later admitted in interviews with special counsel Robert Mueller’s office.

The redacted version of the special counsel’s report released on Thursday included multiple examples of Trump’s current and former press secretaries making false claims to journalists, particularly in the days after Comey’s firing.

Sanders, the current White House press secretary, told the special counsel’s office that a statement she had made to journalists about the Comey’s lack of support within the FBI “was not founded on anything”.

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Sanders’ claim on 10 May 2017, the day after Comey was fired, that “countless members of the FBI” opposed Comey was “a slip of the tongue”, Sanders told the special counsel’s office in an interview last year.

Sanders repeated that “slip of the tongue” during a press briefing the following day, when skeptical White House reporters questioned her on her claim that Comey did not have support within the FBI’s rank and file. One reporter asked what basis the White House had for that conclusion, given that the FBI’s acting director had publicly said that Comey still had the support among the FBI’s agents.

“I can speak to my own personal experience,” Sanders told the White House press. “I’ve heard from countless members of the FBI that are grateful and thankful for the president’s decision.” She went on: “I’ve certainly heard from a large number of individuals. And that’s just myself. And I don’t know that many people in the FBI.”

“You personally have talked to countless officials, employees, since this happened?” another reporter asked later.

“Correct,” Sanders said.

“I mean, really?” the second reporter asked.

“Between like, email, text messages – absolutely,” Sanders said.

“Fifty? Sixty? Seventy?” the reporter asked.

“Look, we’re not going to get into a numbers game. I have heard from a large number of individuals that work at the FBI that said they’re very happy with the president’s decision. I don’t know what else I can say.”

A year later, in interviews with the special counsel’s office, Sanders said “that her statement in a separate press interview that rank-and-file FBI agents had lost confidence in Comey was a comment she made ‘in the heat of the moment’ that was not founded on anything”.

Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary at the time, also made a false claim to reporters about Comey’s firing, telling journalists that night Comey was fired that the decision to fire him “was all” Rosenstein.

Rosenstein said in an interview with the special counsel’s office that he had told other justice department officials that night that he would not participate in putting out a “false story” that Comey’s firing had been his idea.

Sanders replaced Spicer as White House press secretary in July 2017.

A year ago, when comedian Michelle Wolfe mocked Sanders for lying at the White House Correspondents Dinner, the comments about Sanders sparked outrage and condemnation for conservatives, as well as criticism from some national political reporters. Spicer called the criticism “disgusting”.

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“Every time Sarah steps up to the podium, I get excited,” the comedian had said. “I’m not really sure what we’re going to get, you know? A press briefing, a bunch of lies or [being] divided into softball teams.”

Wolfe also called Sanders “very resourceful.”

“She burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smokey eye. Like maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies. It’s probably lies,” the comedian said.

The White House Correspondents Association backed away from Wolfe’s comments in response to criticism, calling her monologue “not in the spirit” of the association.

The White House’s public press briefings to journalists have become increasingly rare and increasingly brief, another issue of concern for the American press.