Sarah Sanders kwam op 27 juni in aanvaring met journalist Brian Karem tijdens een persconferentie in het Witte Huis. Sanders smeekte om ook eens over iets anders te schrijven dan het onderzoek naar de Russische inmenging. Karem onderbrak Sanders door te zeggen dat de pers ‘gewoon zijn werk probeert te doen’.
Lees hier het transcript:
Charlie Spiering: Does the president actually expect —
Sarah Sanders: I’m sorry?
Charlie Spiering: Does the president actually expect us to,not to report on stories of a foreign country trying to influence the presidential election?
Sanders: I don’t think it’s that it’s expected that you're not to report on, again, actual news if there's something there. But again, I think that there are a lot of things happening in this world that frankly a lot of people would like to hear about. Whether it’s job growth, whether it’s deregulation, whether it’s tax reform, health care. I think a lot of those things deserve a lot more coverage than they get. And all we’re saying is, you know, I think that we should take a really good look at what we are focused on, what we are covering, and making sure that it's actually accurate and it's honest. If we make the slightest mistake, the slightest word is off, it is just an absolute tirade from a lot of people in this room. But news outlets get to go on day after day and site unnamed sources, use stories without sources, have — you know, you mentioned the Scaramucci story where they had to have reporters resign.
Brian Karem: Come on. You’re inflaming everybody right here and right now with those words. This administration has done that as well. Why in the name of heavens — any one of us, right, are replaceable and any one of us, if we don’t get it right, the audience has the opportunity to turn the channel or not read us.
Sanders: I think, I think —
Karem: You have been elected to serve for four years at least. There's no option other than that.
Sanders: I think —
Karem: We’re here to ask you questions.
Sanders: Right.
Karem: You’re here to provide the answers and what you just did is inflammatory to people all over the country who look at it and say, “See, once again, the president is right and everybody else out here is fake media.” And everybody in this room is only trying to do their job.
Sanders: I disagree completely. First of all I think if anything has been inflamed it's the dishonesty that often takes place by the news media and I think it is outrageous for you to accuse me of inflaming a story when I was simply trying to respond to his question. Kevin.
