White House press briefings became something of a rarity in the Trump Administration over the last few months, but on Thursday, Sarah Huckabee Sanders returned to her podium and held an event in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room.
The twist: the briefing was mostly off-record and Sanders only took questions from kids.
The White House is celebrating Take Your Sons and Daughters to Work Day today, so Sanders invited the children of staffers and journalists to join her for questions in the briefing room.
The White House press secretary was also joined by Vice President Mike Pence for at least a portion of the gathering.
One of the first things that White House press reporters and political observers noted about this is that this was the first “briefing” Sanders has held in about a month and a half.
.@VP [1] Pence joins @PressSec [2] Sarah Sanders for a surprise visit during a briefing with children on take your kids to work day. Sanders has not held a regular briefing with White House reporters in the briefing room for more than 40 days. pic.twitter.com/Jgq5Qk8SPF [3]
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) April 25, 2019 [4]
It’s been 43 days since @PressSec [2] gave a WH Press Briefing begging the question – what is her actual job is she’s not briefing the press. Well, based on the #MuellerReport [5], it’s to lie to them and shovel propaganda … https://t.co/UIVzHpsFYX [6]
— Kurt Bardella (@kurtbardella) April 25, 2019 [7]
As for the briefing itself, some of the questions and answers have been picked up, plus Sanders allowed the grown-ups to report at least two pieces of legitimate news about the president.
A bunch of the questions were 'favorite color' and 'favorite dinosaur,' but Sanders was asked about child separation policy by one kid. She replied Trump wants to "keep families together" https://t.co/tfCNpQvz97 [8]
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) April 25, 2019 [9]
Sarah Huckabee Sanders makes some news at kids’ press briefing:
—Trump will speak at Air Force academy graduation in Colorado next month.
—NASCAR driver Joe Logano will be at WH soon.
(White House gave permission to report those parts of this off record briefing.) pic.twitter.com/pu02ibeFad [10]
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) April 25, 2019 [11]
Sanders’ credibility has been under fire lately, ever since Robert Mueller‘s report revealed that she made up a fabrication when she told the media that the FBI was delighted when President Donald Trump fired James Comey.
Twitter quickly called her out:
Will she be lying to them the same way she lied to their parents and the rest of the country? @PressSec [2] should have resigned already.
— Fingers crossed for a better year… (@gerberlover2019) April 25, 2019 [12]
Yes she gets paid to do nothing and needs to quit or be fired.
Sarah needs to do her job or not have a job….. that’s how jobs work.— 🇺🇸David P. Smith #EqualityAct 🏳️🌈 (@RevDavidPSmith) April 25, 2019 [13]
This is absurd. No disrespect to the kids, but reflects the childishness of the White House. They’re not even operating. They’re just a clown car careening off a cliff without a driver.
— Tweeting Folly (@TweetingFollya) April 25, 2019 [14]
Send the kids there for what? To learn about how to lie and how to defend lies with more lies??? No, thank you!
Does the press have no self-respect left, to send their children there?
— shankarswamy (@shankarswamy) April 25, 2019 [15]