Sarah Sanders faced a barrage of questions over the resignation of White House aide Rob Porter at Monday’s press briefing, one of which she managed to turn around on the media.
Porter, who resigned last Thursday, has been accused of serious domestic abuse by both of his ex-wives but has denied the allegations.
During the briefing, Sanders was asked by a reporter if the White House can “guarantee” that the White House was “protecting classified information.”
The question was in reference to one of Porter’s duties at the White House — the handling of presidential documents — and the fact that he did not have a permanent security clearance.
Sanders said that the White House was “taking every step we can to protect classified information.”
When the reporter pressed further, asking about Porter’s security clearance, Sanders stepped back and hit the press for being deeply hypocritical.
“If you guys have such concern with classified information, there’s plenty of it leaked out of the Hill,” Sanders said “Leaked out of other communities well beyond the White House walls.”
Sanders went on:
Look around this room. You are the guys that publish classified information and put national security at risk. That doesn’t come from this White House. We take every precaution possible to protect classified information and to protect national security.
Sanders ended the comment by declaring “If anyone is publishing or publicly putting out classified information, its members of the press, not the White House.”