White House Doubles Down On Saying Jemele Hill's Tweets Were Fireable Offense
White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, once again weighed in on ESPN and Jemele Hill on Friday, while throwing in a splash of alternate facts and fake news.
Sanders was asked about Donald Trump's tweet in which he said the network should "apologize for untruth." The reporter wanted to know if Trump would also be apologizing for his constant birtherism claims against Barack Obama.
Naturally, Sanders quickly brushed aside the birtherism question and took aim at ESPN.
"I think the President has made plenty of comments on that front," Sanders about Trump's birther position. "I think the point is, ESPN has been hypocritical. They should hold anchors to a fair and consistent standard. ESPN suspended a longtime anchor, Linda Cohn, not too long ago for expressing a political viewpoint. The network's public editor has said that there is a perception that ESPN has become political and that has harmed the network. This is clearly a political statement. They should be consistent in whatever guidelines they have set themselves in that front."
Sanders was then asked if she still believed Hill's tweets, in which she said Trump was a white supremacist, were a "fireable offense."
"I do," replied Sanders, "and I think they laid that out themselves by suspending one of their own anchors for political comments."
Of course, neither ESPN, nor Cohn, has confirmed she was suspended for a radio interview in which she said ESPN should stay away from politics. So even if Cohn did face disciplinary action from the network, it wouldn't have been for political commentary (which she never made), it would've been for criticizing her own network.
