Not long after Sarah Huckabee Sanders decided to step down as press secretary for the Trump administration, MSNBC Live anchor Hallie Jackson took advantage of the situation on Friday by asking Sanders’ predecessor, Sean Spicer, if he had set a standard for dishonesty during his time in the White House.
To no one’s surprise, Spicer denied the allegation as a “pretty loaded question” before admitting he made mistakes and told Jackson he hoped she would own up to her own as a reporter.
Jackson began the discussion by stating, "Sarah Sanders has acknowledged she did not always tell the truth to reporters. So let me ask you: “Do you regret setting that precedent for dishonesty when you were at the podium?”
Spicer had to chuckle as he simply replied, “No.”
The MSNBC host fired back: “No? None? Not at all? None of the those things that you said weren’t true you regret none of them?”
“No,” the guest repeated before declaring, “I didn’t say that!” He clarified, "Did I make mistakes, Hallie? Of course I did, and when I did, I tried my best to make up for those.”
The former White House official continued by stating, “I’ve said that there were times when I should have done a better job.”
He then turned the query back on Jackson: “There are times when I hope to God that you look back on some of your shows or some of your questions and say: ‘Wow! I wasn’t the best reporter I could have been.’”
Of course, Jackson continued her barrage by stating: “You were the boss at the time when Sarah Sanders was coming up. You hired her. You brought her into the White House. You had her in your press shop.”
“Were you or not setting a precedent for the tone and the behavior that a press secretary should hold when you held that role?” she asked.
“That’s a pretty loaded question,” Spicer responded. “There were days that I look back and I -- for lack of a better word -- took the bait and think I could have been a better person, a better communicator and represented the president better.”
He also noted that he and his staff would talk about the situation every day and consider, “what we could have done as a team better, what I could have done.”
“I hope that I set an example, that said, that we were there on behalf of the American people to represent this administration and do the best job that we can,” he added.
Spicer also noted that “we all” make mistakes before stating: “I’m man enough to sit here and say to you I did make them.”
“I learned from things that I did,” the guest noted. “But to suggest in any way that I set a precedent is pretty far of a stretch.”
