Let's face it: The fact that these White House briefings aren't being televised is criminal (a White House mantra of sorts, these days).
Anyway, deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders read a statement from Donald Trump at the top of Tuesday's briefing. Here it is in full:
“My son is a high-quality person and I applaud his transparency.”
Yep, that's it. Trump either forgot what he was doing after that or wandered off camera, but the family bond is clearly as strong as ever:
Also, Trump and Mike Pence are totally on the same page ...
We take “no distance” to mean that Pence is in the Oval Office measuring drapes right now. But he did take time out to have his spokesperson issue a statement saying he was “not aware” of Jr.’s meeting with the Russian lawyer.
“He is not focused on stories about the campaign, particularly stories about the time before he joined the ticket.” (emphasis added)
Zing.
Huckabee Sanders spent most of the briefing repeating the phrase, “I would refer you to Don Jr.'s counsel and outside counsel.”
As in:
Reporter: You are not disputing any of the facts?
SHS: I'm simply referring you to people that can answer that question.
That would be a “no.” As of now, the White House is not disputing the facts reported in the New York Times’ story on Trump Jr. meeting with a Kremlin-connected Russian attorney to dig up dirt on Hillary Clinton.
But SHS was clear on this point:
If there’s one thing this White House specializes in, it’s ridiculousness—we can give her that.