White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday defended President Donald Trump’s tweet accusing Disney CEO Bob Iger of bias.
Trump took Iger’s apology to former Obama official Valerie Jarrett as an opportunity to lambast him for never apologizing for what Disney employees have said about the president. Iger’s apology to Jarrett came after Roseanne Barr insulted her in racial terms, prompting ABC to drop her show "Roseanne," and Sanders deemed this hypocritical.
"He's simply pointing out the bias," Sanders said, noting Trump was not defending Barr. "The president is pointing to the hypocrisy in the media saying the most horrible things about this president and nobody addresses it."
Then she argued media bias prevents its members from accurately covering important issues, calling out CNN and MSNBC for not showing Trump’s address during the signing ceremony Wednesday for the "right to try" law allowing terminal patients to try potentially life-saving treatments.
"Today the president signed legislation to give patients the right to try medication that can actually save their lives," Sanders said. "And while the president signed that legislation and actually addressed America, two networks chose not to cover it and covered something totally different: palace intrigue."
"A massive piece of legislation that had bipartisan support, that was life changing, literally life changing for millions of Americans – two networks chose not to cover the president's remarks on that," she added.
Sanders had a litany of comments she deemed inappropriate but which led to no apology from Iger. Among them were ESPN’s Jemele Hill calling Trump and his associates white supremacists and comedienne Kathy Griffin’s "profane rant against the president" on "The View" after her photo shoot featuring a mock severed head of Trump.
She also drew attention to Keith Olbermann’s promotion by ESPN, despite his "numerous expletive-laced tweets attacking the president as a Nazi," as well as Joy Behar of "The View" likening Christianity to a mental illness.
Trump's tweet came after a media firestorm surrounding Barr for her tweets about Jarrett, as well as others, which led to ABC taking swift action Tuesday. Iger apologized personally to Jarrett, but Trump complained he received no such treatment.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1001848460881035265