White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday scolded the media for being "completely obsessed" about Donald Trump's former volunteer campaign aide who pleaded guilty earlier this month to making false statements to the FBI.
A reporter brought up Sam Clovis, a senior White House adviser to the United States Department of Agriculture, and said Clovis was an unnamed supervisor mentioned in the George Papadopoulos plea. He went on to say Clovis' lawyers acknowledged he was the one mentioned in court documents who encouraged Papadopoulos to go to Russia in August 2016 to meet with Russian officials about the Trump campaign.
"Is the administration aware of who the other three or four campaign individuals who were referenced in that Papadopoulos plea were, and are any serving him or advising him in the administration?" the reporter asked.
Sanders said she was not aware of the specific individuals, but she believes he is an example of somebody doing the wrong thing, while the Trump campaign did the right thing by voluntarily turning over emails to special counsel Robert Mueller, an action that ultimately led to Papadopoulos' arrest and guilty plea.
ABC White House correspondent Jon Karl asked Sanders to elaborate on White House chief of staff John Kelly's comments from Monday night when he said the Russia investigation was "very distracting" to Trump and his agenda.
"I don't think it's at all affecting his ability to get his job done, and that wasn't the point he was making. You guys seem completely obsessed with this while there are a lot of other things happening around the country, and frankly, a lot of other things that people care a lot more about–the media refuses to cover it," Sanders said.
"Instead of the focus being constantly on tax cuts and tax reform, my guess is if you look at the records, the questions that I take in here day in, day out, have far more to do with an investigation that, frankly, most Americans don't care too much about, and a whole lot less to do with policies that actually impact them," Sanders added.