White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders on Tuesday dodged repeated questions, and ultimately did not deny, a report that President Donald Trump told his aides to lie about internal polling indicating he trails 2020 Democratic Joe Biden in a handful of important states.
CNN White House correspondent Joe Johns asked Sanders to comment on The New York Times' report Monday that, "after being briefed on a devastating 17-state poll conducted by his campaign pollster, Tony Fabrizio, Mr. Trump told aides to deny that his internal polling showed him trailing Mr. Biden in many of the states he needs to win."
"Did the president tell his aides to deny that internal polling showed him trailing Joe Biden?" Johns asked Sanders, who briefed reporters on the White House driveway.
"Look, I think the polling got it completely wrong in 2016, I don't think it's right now," Sanders said, seeming to try to veer away from the internal polling topic but also not denying the reported conversation.
"I'm not going to get into a lot of details," Sanders continued. "But we feel incredibly good about what the president has been able to accomplish in the first two years of his administration."
Sanders listed what she considers accomplishments by the president, including "unprecedented success," a booming economy, "making better trade deals" than ever before, and rebuilding the military.
"The president's got a great story to tell, and we feel very comfortable about where we are," Sanders said.
Johns tried to get Sanders back on addressing his question.
"This is his internal polling," he said.
"I'm sorry?" Sanders replied.
"That's his internal polling," Johns reiterated.
The press secretary responded: "Again, I'm not worried about polling."
Sanders said she was by the White House and had "to be a little careful about what I answer," then went back to praising the president's "incredible record" and "tremendous success," and said the administration feels "very comfortable" where they stand.
The Times report also stated that "when top-line details of the polling leaked, including numbers showing the president lagging in a cluster of critical Rust Belt states, Mr. Trump instructed aides to say publicly that other data showed him doing well."
Sanders and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Newsweek on Tuesday.
Sanders, one of the longest-serving high-ranking officials in the administration, has refused to answer questions on controversial matters regarding Trump before. In March, Sanders would not answer whether Trump really believes Democrats hate Jews, as Axios reported. Sanders has also made multiple misleading claims to defend the president, including claiming that Trump in his first year and a half tripled what his predecessor Barack Obama accomplished in eight years.
