President Trump graciously invited the sons and daughters of White House reporters to a bring your child to work day event — then insulted their parents right in front of them.
‘Your parents are being very nice right now, I can’t believe it! Because they don’t want to embarrass themselves in front of you. You understand that? They’re being so nice I can’t believe it,’ Trump told children who joined him in the Rose Garden.
Trump ribbed the kids’ parents, telling them directly: ‘Honestly, the children ask me better questions, if you want to know the truth.’
The president left it to the kids to decide whether they wanted their parents to accompany them to the Oval Office, asking, ‘Do you want your parents in the Oval Office or out?’ They said, ‘Out!’
President Trump graciously invited the sons and daughters of White House reporters to a bring your child to work day event — then insulted their parents right in front of them
‘Your parents are being very nice right now, I can’t believe it! Because they don’t want to embarrass themselves in front of you. You understand that? They’re being so nice I can’t believe it,’ Trump told children who joined him in the Rose Garden
‘Look how nice your parents are being. They’re not screaming,’ he said as he took a photo behind the Resolute Desk with the children. ‘But you love your parents, right? Everybody love their parents?’
In the Oval Office the president informed the children, some of whom belonged to his staff, that they were in ‘the most important office anywhere in the world’
Some of the children were a tad distracted, though, as Trump tried to give them a history lesson
In the Oval the president informed the children, some of whom belonged to his staff, that they were in ‘the most important office anywhere in the world.’
‘And your parents are behaving very nicely for a change,’ he added. ‘That means they love and respect you, right?’
Trump, who has hammered some of the same news outlets that were represented at the event as ‘fake news’, kept returning to the topic of the children’s reporter parents.
‘Look how nice your parents are being. They’re not screaming,’ he said as he took a photo behind the Resolute Desk with the children. ‘But you love your parents, right? Everybody love their parents?’
The kids roundly told him, ‘Yes.’
Prior to the meet-and-greet with the president the children participated in an off-camera press briefing with Sarah Sanders, whose own children were at the White House on Thursday.
She got more than she bargained for as she was hit with probing questions on Ronny Jackson, the president’s failed Veterans’ Affairs nominee, and James Comey, the fired FBI director running around town promoting his tell-all.
The president’s spokeswoman suggested that some of the children in the room might be ‘plants’ for their parents after one reporter’s son asked if the president still has ‘trust’ in Jackson.
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders got more than she bargained for during a kids’ briefing on Thursday
Sanders took questions from reporters’ children during the White House’s ‘Take Your Sons and Daughters to Work Day’ event and was hit with probing questions
A child asked why the president fired Comey, prompting Sanders to observe that it was a ‘tough’ crowd
Another child asked why the president fired Comey, prompting Sanders to observe that it was a ‘tough’ crowd.
She asked who that child belonged to, then joked that the reporter – CBS producer Brian Gottlieb – would no longer be called on at the White House. ‘I’m kidding,’ she added.
‘I would say that Director Comey made it pretty clear over the last couple of weeks with his media tour why it was probably not a good idea for him to run and work the FBI anymore. He did some things that weren’t really very nice, and probably not right for the top law enforcement agency,’ she replied. ‘So, that was a pretty good reason for the president to let him go.’
Sanders held the kids’ briefing, which took place off camera, in lieu of her daily, televised news conference.
The junior reporters were the only ones who had a chance to question her about Jackson’s abrupt withdraw.
Kids in the room also asked about what the president loves the most – ‘America’ –when his birthday is – ‘June 14. It’s Flag Day, so that’s the only reason I can remember that’ – and whether he plans to get a dog –’ask the first lady.’
She told a child who asked her about Trump’s pledge to ‘Make America Great Again’ that ‘if he makes it great again, he’ll just keep making it better and better.’
Sanders opened up the event to hard news questions, perhaps unintentionally, when she used the event to announce President Trump’s visit to the United Kingdom on July 13, the first trip of his presidency to Great Britain.
She said Trump would visit the U.K. for a ‘working visit’ with Prime Minister Theresa May.
‘I’m gonna take a few of your questions, and hopefully they’ll be easier than some of the ones I get from your mom and dads’ on a regular day,’ she quipped.
The first question came from Reuters’ reporter Roberta Rampton’s son.
‘I know your mom. She’s a good and smart reporter,’ Sanders interjected.
Rampton’s son asked whether the president still trusts Jackson after all the allegations that had been levied against him.
He did not spell out what those were – Jackson had been accused of drunk driving and then crashing a government vehicle and liberally passing out pills to government officials on overseas trips.
‘I think some parents have got some plants in here,’ she teased.
Taking a more serious tone, Sanders said, ‘The president has a great deal of respect for admiral Jackson. He’s a terrific guy, really likes him a lot, and hates what has happened over the last several days.’
President Trump believes that Jackson is ‘a great guy’ and ‘certainly a great doctor.’
Moments later, a child asked her about airstrikes on Syria.
‘I made that one up by myself,’ the child asserted.
Sanders said, ‘Well, the president wanted to make sure some of the people in the world that weren’t being very nice to other people and did some really bad stuff, that we made sure they knew that that wasn’t OK. And so sometimes, we have to take action like that to deter, which means prevent other countries from doing bad stuff. So that’s what we were hoping to do.’