Since the release of the Mueller report, the long knives of the anti-Trump media have come out for White house Press Sec. Sarah Sanders. What has Sanders done to prompt this outrage, you ask?
In case you avoid wading into such left-wing fever swamps as NY Mag, Washington Post and NBC, you may not be aware that Sanders is a “proven liar” who “keeps lying and smearing,” and therefore “it’s time for her to resign.”
Here are some sample headlines from media pig-pile last week:
Vox: Sarah Sanders keeps digging herself in deeper after Mueller showed she lied
NY Mag: Proven Liar Sarah Sanders Asked About Lying, Lies Again
Vanity Fair: SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS TELLS MUELLER HER COMEY FIRING STORY WAS TOTAL B.S.
CNN: Should press secretary Sarah Sanders resign?
The source of the media’s angst stems from section II, page 72 of the Mueller report, which reads:
In the afternoon of May 10, 2017, deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders spoke to the President about his decision to fire Comey and then spoke to reporters in a televised press conference. Sanders told reporters that the President, the Department of Justice, and bipartisan members of Congress had lost confidence in Comey, ” [a]nd most importantly, the rank and file of the FBI had lost confidence in their director. Accordingly, the President accepted the recommendation of his Deputy Attorney General to remove James Comey from his position.”
In response to questions from reporters, Sanders said that Rosenstein decided “on his own” to review Comey’s performance and that Rosenstein decided “on his own” to come to the President on Monday, May 8 to express his concerns about Comey. When a reporter indicated that the “vast majority” of FBI agents supported Comey, Sanders said, “Look, we’ve heard from countless members of the FBI that say very different things.
Following the press conference, Sanders spoke to the President, who told her she did a good job and did not point out any inaccuracies in her comments. Sanders told this Office that her reference to hearing from “countless members of the FBI” was a “slip of the tongue.”She also recalled 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.
Pressed last week by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos about her “slip of the tongue,” Sanders explained that her the use of the word “countless” may have been an overstatement, but a number of FBI employees had indeed contacted the White House to support Comey’s firing.
“There were a number of FBI agents both former and current that agreed with the president’s decision and they’ve continued to speak out and say that and send notice to the White House of that agreement with the president’s decision,” Sanders said. She added that she stood by her comments and that the use of the word “countless” was in “the heat of the moment,” meaning that it wasn’t “a scripted talking point.”
Pressed repeatedly on her comments on FBI agents, Sarah Sanders tells @GStephanopoulos, "It was the heat of the moment, meaning that it wasn't a scripted talking point. I'm sorry that I wasn't a robot like the Democratic Party" was about Mueller probe. https://t.co/mOQZNKl1wy pic.twitter.com/y3xcNwVYHg
— ABC News (@ABC) April 19, 2019
This media appearance outraged the Resistance media even more, prompting another wave of negative reports, including CNN contributor April Ryan calling for her head to be “lopped off.”
At issue appears to be whether Sanders was telling the truth when she told reporters that “rank and file” FBI agents had lost confidence in their FBI director. According to the White House reporter quoted in the Mueller report, “the vast majority” supported Comey.
Other reporters like the New York Post’s Paul Sperry dispute that:
Sarah Sanders' statements that the FBI rank-and-file were disgruntled with Comey were, in fact, accurate. Mueller is merely protecting Comey in his report. The evidence that FBI field agents were up in arms over Comey's handling of the Clinton probe is overwhelming. Stay tuned…
— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) April 22, 2019
Meanwhile, it’s not even debatable that “a number” of FBI agents both former and current dislike “Cardinal Comey” and support President Trump.
A year ago, when Comey was on his whirlwind media book tour, “a number” of FBI employees, both current and retired, expressed their disgust with the former director, panning his book and blasting his big Sunday night interview with Stephanopoulos that aired on April 15, 2018. “He’s an absolute mess,” one former FBI agent told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham.
According to Daily Beast reporter Jana Winter, no less than six FBI insiders reached out to her during and immediately after the broadcast and voiced their disapproval.
“There was a lot of anger, frustration, and even more emojis—featuring the thumbs-down, frowny face, middle finger, and a whole lot of green vomit faces,” wrote Winter. Not to mention a poop emoji from one particularly disgusted agent.
White said that some of the emojis started off fairly cheerfully, but then became “increasingly angry and despondent as the hourlong interview played out.”
“Hoover is spinning in his grave,” said a former FBI official. “Making money from total failure.”
When a promo aired announcing Comey’s upcoming appearance on The View, the official lost it. “Good lord, what a self-serving self-centered jackass,” he said. “True to form he thinks he’s the smartest guy around.”
A current FBI official told Winter he thought it was bizarre that Comey seemed so pleased with himself. “It’s how happy he looked on TV while cashing in on the biggest mistake in history. His mistake,” he said. “Jim Comey made that mistake. We all just wonder what could have been and what we could’ve done to change it.”
The rest — even those who were inclined to support Comey — were reportedly mortified by the end of the interview.
One longtime Team Comey source—who is still an FBI agent—sent thumbs-up emojis repeatedly during the first half hour, but even this loyalist began to lose patience by the halfway mark—sending a frowny face. A few minutes later there was a nauseous emoji, and then a poop emoji after the final segment.
Chris E. Swecker, who served 24 years in the FBI as a special agent, wrote in an oped at Fox News that “Comey’s actions are unworthy of the FBI.”
“The public needs to understand that this is really not how the FBI operates within today’s criminal justice system,” wrote Swecker. “Jim Comey and his discredited inner circle in no way represent the FBI and its dedicated men and women.”
"It is now quite evident that James Comey’s higher loyalty is to James Comey, and James Comey alone."
Chris Swecker, who served 24 years in the @FBI as a special agent, called James @Comey's actions "unworthy " of the FBI. https://t.co/oTeNAMy79d pic.twitter.com/2TvNXn2HCF
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 17, 2018
Some other former G-men lashed out at Comey on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle, last April:
“In almost every key element in this endeavor he has contradicted himself or there’s stuff in the record that contradicts him,” said retired FBI special agent Bobby Chacon. “He’s [an] absolute mess. This book is a mess … and it couldn’t be more damaging to the men and women of the FBI coming out at this time.”
Chacon explained how: “It demeans the office of the director to issue a book that talks about the size of the president’s hands and unconfirmed rumors about prostitutes in Moscow. He took the low road and he’s dragging the men and women of the FBI back into this political maelstrom that they don’t deserve to be. He put them there in the first place! And now he’s dragging them back there again. And it’s unconscionable that he does that!”
Retired @FBI special agent Bobby Chacon: "[@Comey] took the low road and he's dragging the men and women of the FBI back into this political maelstrom that they don't deserve…He put them there in the first place." @IngrahamAngle https://t.co/vKM3cTAEeH pic.twitter.com/sQsPAgpbOE
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 17, 2018
Retired special agent Terry Turchie said Comey’s book tour is an effort to convince people that everything he did “was normal and right.”
But Turchie argued, “Nothing that he did was normal and right. Particularly on the Clinton email investigation and even on the Russian collusion investigation.”
He added, “James Comey’s higher loyalty is to his wallet at this point. And I think his strategy is now designed around making sure that his book sells a lot and he can go out and get vengeance for whatever hurt feelings he has about the president and what happened.”https://twitter.com/paulsperry_/status/1120383143620616192
Terry Turchie: "James @Comey's higher loyalty is to his wallet at this point." @IngrahamAngle https://t.co/vKM3cTAEeH pic.twitter.com/hG3ue8cxGJ
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 17, 2018
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)