During her daily White House press briefing, Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded to a question on known issues of lax security at the White House by turning the question back on the press. Her answer has pundits shaking their heads in disbelief for ignoring some important facts.
NBC's Kristen Welker asked: "Can you guarantee that you are protecting classified information when you have someone like Rob Porter who didn't have a permanent security clearance who had access to classified information?"
Sarah Huckabee Sanders replied: "I think we're taking every step we can to protect classified information. I mean, frankly, if you guys have such concern with classified information, there's plenty of it that's leaked out of the Hill, that's leaked out of other communities well beyond the White House walls. If you guys have real concerns about leaking out classified information — look around this room. You guys are the ones that publish classified information and put national security at risk. That doesn't come from this White House."
Welker: "Is this White House jeopardizing national security?"
Sanders: "We take every precaution possible to protect classified information and certainly to protect national security. It's the president's number one priority, is protecting the citizens of this country. It's why we spend every single day doing everything we can to do that. And I think if anyone is publishing or putting out publicly classified information it's members of the press, not the White House."
This response brings up several issues. The most blatant, however, is the recent release by the White House of classified materials to the public to bolster their own image; namely the Nunes memo. Members of the intelligence community and members of Congress all asked for a careful review of the memo prior to releasing it. The White House ignored their precautions and released the memo anyway.
That hypocrisy has not been lost on the press or the public. In addition to the White House releasing classified material via the Nunes memo, she also ignored the leaks she railed against coming from the White House. She ignored her workplace, that consistently leaks information, includes dozens of people like Rob Porter who routinely handle classified materials with no security clearance.
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