It was touch and go at the White House briefing Tuesday for press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who narrowly avoided being forced to tell the truth about her lie that Donald Trump "certainly didn't dictate" Don Jr.'s inaccurate response regarding his Trump Tower meeting with a Russian in 2016.
After being questioned aggressively Monday about her false claim from last year, Sanders said she wouldn't comment on the revelation that Trump's lawyers actually admitted he did indeed "dictate" the statement in a memo they sent to they sent to the special counsel. Instead, Sanders repeatedly referred the White House Press Corps to "outside counsel" to answer their questions.
Some reporters actually took her up on that suggestion and returned Tuesday to let her know the outside counsel reaffirmed the fact that Trump dictated the statement.
Reporter: So do you want to correct the record on your statement from August when you said he certainly didn't dictate?
No, would be the answer to that. "I'm not going to comment on that outside counsel," she responded. Sorry guys, Sanders saw that truth trap coming from a mile away.
Reporter: There was outside counsel in August as well but you still talked about it. So why can't you correct the record now?
Nice try hammering Sanders with logic, kid, but she's slipperier than Teflon.
"Again, I'm not going to get into a back and forth with you on that," Sanders said, declining to get into a back and forth on the thing she got into a back and forth on last year. Man, is she ever nimble.
Sanders received a handful of other queries on the matter. Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey, who questioned her on the topic Monday, tried again Tuesday—stipulating explicitly that he wasn't asking about the outside counsel's statement, but rather hers.
Dawsey: The only question is, do you think your statement in August was accurate—your statement, not theirs—was your statement accurate or inaccurate?
Sanders: Again, I know you want to get me into a back and forth with you on this conversation...
Dawsey: Not a back and forth—you said something, we just want to know if it was accurate or not.
Sanders: Look, I know your goal is to engage me in a conversation about matters dealing with the outside counsel and I'm not going to do that today.
Dawsey: It's not the outside counsel, it's you said something from the podium. Was it accurate or not? That's all we want to know.
Sorry, Josh.
Sanders: I work day in and day out and I believe, frankly, with the majority of you here in the room. I think you all know I'm an honest person who works extremely hard to provide you with accurate information at all times. I'm going to continue to do that. But I'm not going to engage on matters of outside counsel.
I’m an honest person, but no way am I going to tell you guys the truth about my lies. No. Damn. Way.