A report circulated on Tuesday that White House Communications Director Hope Hicks told a House committee that she occasionally tells “white lies” on behalf of the president, sparking outrage among the press corps that she’d admit to something everyone who is remotely in tune with politics already knew.
“Hope Hicks, the White House communications director, told House investigators on Tuesday that her work for President Trump, who has a reputation for exaggerations and outright falsehoods, had occasionally required her to tell white lies,” reported The New York Times.
CNN reacted predictably, saying her admission could end up being “a very big problem.” As The Times notes, Hopes “insisted that she had not lied about matters material to the investigations into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election,” and there is also no evidence that she has lied to Congress — which would constitute a crime.
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Of course, that didn’t stop CNN from reporting that readers should be concerned “that [Hicks] would admit to even the smallest fib in the context of testimony about Russian election meddling” and that “maybe there’s a reasonable explanation for [her statement].”
In other words, ignore their headline.
Former White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush Richard Painter tweeted:
“‘White lies’? Please define. White woman lying for white man with orange hair? About what? Russians? Money? Fixing an election? It’s not going to be a nothing sex story like 1998. Mueller’s finding out, and she’d better not lie to him.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s underling at the State Department Philippe Reines tweeted, “Lying about only telling white lies is quite Trumpian.”
Where was the media outrage when former President Barack Obama’s comms team drafted a speech that told the American people that al Qaeda was on the run or that the Islamic State was a “JV team”?
Who told Obama that soldier Bowe Bergdahl “served with honor and distinction“? Whoever fed him that line probably knew better. However, maybe they didn’t — but that doesn’t speak well for their general competence.
Everyone should expect total honesty and transparency from the president of the United States. Some in the media are acting like Hicks’ statement represents a fundamental change in how business politicians conduct business in Washington. Meanwhile, the rest of us live in reality.
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