And by. Corporate funding is provided by. Sarah huckabee sanders,fi welcome tong line. Thank you so much for having me. Great to be with you. So, you have written a book entitled speaking for myself h, fareedom and the fight of our lives inside the trump white house. And it is no surprise a prty glowing account of your time working for esident trump, to whom y remain deeply loyal. So, tell me, wt was the part that w the fight for your life . Well, i think we were under just a constant attack,ev anything was on the table, whether it was our weight, my appearance, my makeup, my fitness to be a mother. Certainly, i think most of us who went into thwhite house fully excted that policy would be challenged, legislation, the agenda. But personally, as a staffer, have those challenges, i think was something that most of us didnt expect. I know, certainly, i didnt. As you know, i was the First White House press secretary e r need secret service protection. And , as a parent, thats a pretty terrifying realization to have. And, certainly, you want to protect your kids and do everything u can to protect them. And so that added a whole ltdifferent level of diffi in holding that job,wa knowing that, as a parent, that level of protection wasg somethat was a much bigger challenge than i ever anticipated. I mean, the attac on you were grossly unfair and personal. I meanin a way that i hadnt seen before, personally. I mean, you took headon attacks to your face at the white house Correspondents Dinner you were insulted by Mika Brzezinski of msnbc as being, quote, rotteto the core. Others, as you said, questioned your fitness to be a mother. You had a teible snl parody. How did they make you feel . Certainly not my favorite part of the job,bu thankfully, i had a family who was very supportive. I had a very good group of friends. And frankly, the president ppowered me and defended me and was one of tple that gave me confidence to take on that job day and day out. And its one of the reasons that i made it through h1 years is knowing i h trust and his confidence when i stood up at the podium. Made all the differenc in the world. But certainly my faith was a huge part in that, in carrying me through those difficult days, knowing that i didnt need anybody else to define me or to validate me. I had somebody who had already done that. So, giv that the president was so supportive of you,t ask you this question, because there are women to whom he hasot been so supportive, mostly women who disagree with him, but he has been quite vociferous in his attacks against their looks. I mean, calling Rosie Odonnell fat and rly fiorina ugly and even the wife of senator cruz, heidi cruz, commented disparagingly about her looks. S so, how do yquare that with the facthat he actually can be part of this culture of negativeness and nastiness towards women at times . You know, i think we should all look for ws to build each other up instead of tear each other down. I encourage the president as well as anybody else to do that moroften. Women, in particular, i think, are so hard on each other. I think that was one of the things that probably surprised me the mostou in the white in my time there. Some of the people and most aggressive attackers and things like that were other women, all in the age of womens empowerment. And so you wouldve thought those would be the people, despite the fact they might disagree with you politically, but it wouldt least be glad see women moving forward,ul partly. I was only the third woman, the very first mom, to ever hold that job. And so that, to me, was more surprising. Certainly, i think that everybody can take step back, we can lower the temperature,ve and ore positive exchanges with one another, and i think thatoes across the board, both sides of the aisle. Did you ever tell President Trump that he should tone it down with respect tois comments about women . There were certainly moments ttere we might disagree on a particular. And because i had a Good Relationship with the president t i diave a problem being candid with him when i agreed, when i disagreed. And sometimes he listened and took my advice and sometimes he didnt. F at the ende day, he was the one who had been elected president , not me. And so it was his decision to make. Fe but i certainl comfortable in voicing my opinion with him in those moments. You write in the book that sometimes you agree that his rhetoric went too far. Do you have any exames that . [ chuckles ] im not going to relist moments. I think most people can figure that out for themselves. But i do think that the unfortunate ture of politics has gotten a little too aggressive at times, certainly. Let me ask you about the tweeting. Because youre on record as saying that, you know, you wished theres an examp in the bk that you wish sometimes he would spend more where the tweets dget out. Cation clearly, they created a headache time, and they create a headache for his supporters, people who defend his policies but really cant defend the tweett . G. So what is why cant he quit the tweeting . Well, i think in some ways it can be refreshing that we have a president who is so accessible to the American People. You know where he is, you know wt hes thinking on a number of topics at any given time. I think one of the reasonsna trump won in 2016 is because people were sick and tired of sipted politicians that seemed more like robots than human beings. They definitely dont get th in donald trump. They get somebody who speaks from the heart, speaks from the cuff, and i think a lot of people i think thats oneng. Of the reasons he won in 2016. I actually think its one to do well in 2020,l continue because he is i think heuts it all out there and allows people to make up their mind about him. And thats certainly truey in mys. But ere are things he puts out there that, i mean, as you know, are blatantly false conspiracy theories, multiple refences to qanon, even one this week about joe biden as a potential pedophile. You know, whats behind the conspiracytheory tweeting . Like, do you think thatsfr hing to the American People . Well, i certainly like i said, there were rtainly challenges as the White House Press secretary in those moments. But at the end of the day,ri 63 million ans came out and voted for donald trump. Ey wanted his agenda. They wanted somebody who has that fighting spirit, somebody whoushes back against some of the norms certainly of washington. Th wanted a diupter. They wanted somebody who didnt do business as usual, and theyve gotten that indo ld trump. And i think hes liv up to what he said heould do en he ran in 2015. I think he continues to do that. Hes the same peon that he was when he first ran for office, and he still won. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Le me just ask you then, as Sarah Huckabee sanders do you agree that qano is a baseless Conspiracy Theory . Im not aware of anything that theyre pushing that i would say is accurate. I havent spent a lot of time, to be honest with you, digging in to a lot ofhat theyre into, but fr the parts i youre sparing yourself . From the parts that i know, i wouldnt say that i would believe any of that is accurate. I would just counsel yo to stay the course. [ both laugh ]li en, as White House Press secretary, you gave more than a hundred briefings, and you write in your bo. Why do you think the briefings m becatsee tv in the Trump Administration . I think theres a lot of reasons. I think there was you know, because it didt become as much about the news and it became more about the backandrth between the press secretary and the reporters,ic frankly, i dont think its productive, but it made for better tv. And so, the end of the day, most news outlets are still trying to make money. Theyre a business. And i think they felt that was entertainment and less about news. I think thats one of the reasons the president ,is for a while,ntinued the briefing, because it did become more about entertainment, more about everybody rmving their moment and less about getting inion out to the American People. I was actually gog to ask you about that. Because the briefings did stop for some me under your tenure as press secretaryo and then aur successors, was that a decision of thees ent, or was that your decision . It was a decision he didnt like, ag that the briefings had sort of lost its purpose. They were no longer providingod nd Accurate Information but more about everybody having a viral moment or a gotcha moment. And he didnt like the way that he felt a lot of the press treated histaff, myself and so he took a sck. I think one of the things thats made a big difference in the briefings coming back ishat you have fewer people in the room, so you dont have 150 people yelling over each other and talking over one another, trying to get a question in. S some of tharation, i think, has allowed for a little bit more. Respectful. Word, but maybe. Ats the right this is one of the Silver Linings of coronavirus is thatbr the white housfings are more civil . T yeah, maybe thats a better way to. As you think about your role as press secretary and you reflect, what e most important responsibility of the White House Press secretary . I think the most important responsibility is to try to communicate the white house potion and the white house agenda red what is taking place t how decisions are made. And, you know, i tnk one of the big misconceptions about the press secretary at a lot of people have outside of the building is that the only time the press secretary and the press interact is at the briefing, which is not true at all. Thousands of reporters had my cellphone number, my email, and access to my office. And so there was a constant mmunication between the press office anthe press itself. You write in the acknowledgments section of your book, quote. Who are the real journalists . H i would nam off, but im afraid i would probably ruin their carrs. But i think the characteristics of a real journalist are and there were many in the white house, and i tried to make that point throughout thbook that there were several peopleor that id extremely well with. I didnt always agree with them. Esnt mean i liked their stories. A lot of times, i didnt. But they were factfinding, and factfocused journalists. Injecting their own opinions into their news stories, but they were simp trying to put information out. I think one of the worst things thats happened to journalism is the blurred lines between news and opinion. Its very difficult these days to find shows that are strictly newsl media versus that of opinion. I think they both have a b role, and theyre important, but they should be completely and totally separated. One of the most difficult parts is that you ve a news story thats perfectly fine, but then a reporters twitter feed is filled with opinions and thoughts and commentary,d u cannot separate the two. And a lot of times, their twitter feeds can actually drive significant amount of news, even more so than their stories, and theres no level of editorial process. When theyre posting somethingno on twitternes cheing it, but it still has the abity to drive a news cycle, sometimes even more so than their story. And i think thats a very dangerous thing, twe dont have that checand balance in place because it has blended news and opinion so much these days. You know, and then on the flip side, the president the enemy of the people. He pre right . So how does that play into the backandrth . And is it helpful . Well, i think Bad Information masqueraded as news and misleading information masqueraded as n is dangerous. And it is, i think, a detriment to our country. What about the White House Press secretary . Do you view it as your role, in that role, that it was imperative that you tell the truth . Ol aely. And i spent every single day working diligently to make sure we had the best information at a given time to provide. That doesnt meanf we were freestakes. We certainly are all human, and were going to make miakes, and that happened. But i tried to learn from those mistakes and make sure we didnt repeat the is there ever a circumstance, sarah, where its acceptable for the White House Press secretary to not tell the truth to the American People . I dont think that they should certainly be dishonest at any point, but that doesnt mean they havto tell every single thing that they know. Sometimes theres nationalsecurity implications and economic reasons why you cant maybe share everything you know, but i certainly ththat you should always strive to do your very best to givfully and complete, Accurate Information. Are there any briefings you regret . It when you were house press secretary, did you have any briefings that you regret . Or wouldve done differently . I dont, d again, it goes back to, did we make mistakes . Absolutely. But we learned from them. G i think stronger in those moments. The difficult momentsen are, i think, ou learn a lot more about yourself. So i dont regret it. Does that me i might not have done things a little bit differently in some Certain Circumstance . Bu possiblyi dont regret it. Im very proud of the work that i didthe job that i did, and the administration that i got to work in. Yeah. So, one of the events you write about is about your predecessor in the job, sean spicer. Lets take a quick lookst at his friefing. This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe. These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are ameful and wrong. Okay. So, you write in your book that that was a daster. Why . Why was that a disaster . Well, i dont think we were fully prepared for him to go out that day, but we did, and i think h it coue been done better. Certainly, i think thats one of those moments where weearned something from that day and tried not to repeat those same mistakes. So, what would you have done . You know, its really hard for me to say. I had the advantage of going second. Ive said that mantimes. Sean had a really fficult job. My job was extremely hard, but i got six months alst, not quite of onthejob training, and this was a new world for all of us to step into. And so think there was definitely a learning curve. There were a lot of things that we learned alonghe way g and much better at. I was much better by the time i left than the day i came in. And i think sean learned a lot during that moment and during the course of his time as the White House Press secretary. Because, i mean, right there, National Security wasnt at stak but he clearly didnt tell the truth. Well, i think the point sean was trying to make, and i know that this has been looked at and lited many times over, and i would refer you to hisomments about his own personal feelings, but i know the goal d the point he was tryin to make in that moment wasnt just abt physical people atheug at the iation itself but the totality of peoplein who had tune to watch the inauguration. Listen, theres another journalist w covered nine president s who appeared on the original firing line with william f. Buckley jr. 97 into talk about his reporting during watergate. And i waed you to take a look at this clip. The sry has gone way beyond what we ever really wrote, predicted, or had any notion of. And we have no real stak in an eventual outcome of establishing the guilt of the president. You mean as individuals. As repoers. As an institution, i think the Washington Post reporting isnt about that,ta ishing guilt. All right. So, there you have an earlier bob wooard and an earlier carl bernstein. The same. His voice sounds but on the substance of that point, he says reporte have no stake in proving guilt, that theyre just after the truth. Or at least that was how they appached watergate. As someone whos been in the trenches, i mean, is that your experience, do you think . Is that what good reporters do, and is that what most reporters at theyre after the truth rather than an outcome . I ctainly think thats what a good reporter does, but i dont think thats what we get a lot of now. Going back to what i was saying earlier, its its not just about the truth. Certainly, that has to be a top priority for them. But its also about not tainting the truth or swaying the way that a reader looks at a story one way or anothe one version higher than another. Let me ask you a different question aboutob woodward. This is the quote heard round the world. President trump said to bob woodward, quote. Y if are White House Press secretary during the coronavirus at the outbreak, as it went, would you have advised at playing it down was the right strategy . Well, i would advise thatun keeping the y calm and not creating hysteria is a good thing. I think he has had an unprecedent challenge, certainly something we havent and i think hes dgood job of trying to find the right balance of protecting american livelihoods while at the same time protecting american lives. To this question of whether playing it down versus panic, right . President trump has likened himself to churchill and has talked about churchill at the beginning of world war ii. And i mean, if you look back at what churchill did right . Churchill didnt try to playof down the threahe germans, right . He didnt try to play down the threat of the enemy. What he did was he td the truth, and he earned credibility in his communication. That seems to be an area where President Trump has fallen downo in terms of deng credible ped sincere communication with the americale during the coronavirus. And thats, i think, why this quote has gotten so much traction rich lowry, even, from the national review, who supports President Trumps reelection, saythat President Trump has fallen down on a key aspect of president ial leadership in crisis,h whquires serious at do you think about that . I think if the president didnt take it seriously, then he wouldnt have been willing to shudown one of thees stroeconomies weve seen. He wouldnt have been willing to place those restrictions. To mobilize u. S. Companies,n get the government way,f t provide the resources that Firs