WH Spox Twists Himself In Knots To Avoid Calling Kavanaugh Accusers Liars

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

A White House spokesperson twisted himself into knots Tuesday in an attempt to say that the President believes Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s denials of sexual improprieties — without saying that Trump thinks the women accusing Kavanaugh are liars.

“The President believes both of these women are lying because no one else will corroborate their stories,” MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson told White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah. “Is that accurate?”

“You’re using the word ‘lying,’” Shah responded. “What we’re saying is that we believe Judge Kavanaugh.”

“He told the country last night, very clearly: He’s never sexually assaulted anyone.”

Jackson pressed: “Both of those can’t be correct, though, you acknowledge, right? You can’t both believe Judge Kavanaugh and also believe that these women are not lying. So, to be clear, the President does not believe Dr. Ford and Deborah Ramirez are telling the truth?”

“Hallie, I wouldn’t put words in his mouth,” Shah said, before referencing the President’s tweet hours earlier, leaving out the part where Trump called the accusations “False.”

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for jmacaz jmacaz says:

    Come on Raj… why not just lie like all of tRumps other spokes persons

  2. I thought weasels were cute little furry creatures, abeit with a nasty temper, and not this bloviating bag of shit…

  3. Of course Trump thinks they are lying…he has to in order to preserve his pick for the SC. In other words, Trump doesn’t really care if they are lying or not, all that matters is that he gets his way, it’s the Trump (and Republican) way of governing the nation. Truth, justice, those things don’t matter unless they can be used to free a Republican from responsibility or twisted to take down an opponent. It’s a sad state of affairs, and worrying that it continues without nearly the blowback it should receive.

  4. Shah edges closer to the nearest shrubbery…

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

23 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for daveminnj Avatar for srfromgr Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for wordtoyamamma Avatar for squirreltown Avatar for sickneffintired Avatar for drriddle Avatar for lastroth Avatar for alyoshakaramazov1 Avatar for longtimeobserver Avatar for dickweed Avatar for benthere Avatar for beattycat Avatar for southerndem Avatar for jmacaz Avatar for asturcot Avatar for jquas2sunset Avatar for occamscoin Avatar for rascal_crone

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: