Mercedes Schlapp

"He is not a racist," Mercedes Schlapp said Sunday, right as Trump spent the morning tweeting attacks against four congresswomen of color.

"The core element of the president's philosophy is America first," Stephen Miller said.

"But taxpayers pay for it," responded CNN's Jim Sciutto, to which White House Strategic Communications Director Mercedes Schlapp agreed. "You know what else taxpayers are paying for? The financial burden of this illegal immigration."

Trump's controversial decision led to the resignation of Secretary of Defense General Jim Mattis and Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the coalition fighting the Islamic State militant group.

'The president has a great relationship with General Kelly,' Mercedes Schlapp said.

"It's my understanding that Ms. Sadler is eligible for some of these positions," Conway said.

Sanders said she was "not going to get into the back and forth on this," in reference to a public apology on the McCain comment.

The White House strategic communications director said "you can put this on the record … I stand with Kelly Sadler," in response to the aide's seemingly inappropriate comment about Senator John McCain.