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Huckabee Sanders: Talking About Policy Would Be a 'Change of Tone'

June 29, 2017

White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during Thursday’s press briefing that talking about the legislative agenda would be a "change of tone" compared to what they usually discuss there.

NBC reporter Hallie Jackson asked a follow-up question after she—and multiple other reporters—discussed President Donald Trump's tweets attacking "Morning Joe" hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough on Thursday morning.

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"Sarah, follow up question on just more policy points with the G-20 coming up next week," Jackson began.

"That would be a change in tone: policy," Sanders interjected.

"I disagree with that, I think we talk about policy a lot here," Jackson continued, before asking about Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week and whether the president will bring up Russian meddling in the U.S. 2016 election.

Later on Sanders took a question from another reporter who also brought up the president's aforementioned tweets.

"I'm not asking about the tweets itself, I'm asking about whether or not this helps his legislative agenda," the reporter asked.

"I think the president would love for us all to focus on the legislative agenda a lot more," Sanders said.

She then went on to reference a study that was conducted by the Media Research Center that concluded most of the media's attention in May and June focused on the ongoing investigation into potential ties between Trump's campaign and the Russian government.

"All of the major networks, if you look at their coverage and what they're talking about," Sanders said referencing the study. "They spent one minute of the evening news cast talking about tax reform, three minutes on infrastructure, five minutes on the economy and jobs, seven minutes on health care, and 353 minutes, 353 minutes, attacking the president and pushing a false narrative on Russia. I mean, look at that in comparison."

Sanders went on to qualify how the media in that press briefing room could help to set a better narrative that focuses more on policy and the legislative agenda.

"If you guys want to talk about legislative agenda and focus on policy and priorities, you guys get to help set that table," Sanders said. "Guys, the numbers don't lie, the media's focus on priorities, they don't line up with the rest of America."

Then Sanders listed a number of accomplishments the president had obtained in office that had not been covered in great detail by the media.

"Right now we've got: our economy's growing, the stock market's up, unemployment is down, jobs are back, and ISIS is on the run," Sanders said. "America is winning, and that's what we like to talk about."