Sarah Huckabee Sanders says ESPN host's criticism of Trump should be 'a fireable offense'

On Monday, Jamele Hill, an anchor of ESPN's SportsCenter, tweeted that President Trump "is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists," among other criticisms of the president, and Washington Post reporter David Nakamura asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders about the tweets on Wednesday afternoon. Sanders said she is not sure if Trump was aware of the tweets, "but I think that's one of the more outrageous comments that anyone could make, and certainly something that I think is a fireable offense by ESPN."

On Tuesday, before suggesting that the Justice Department look into prosecuting former FBI Director James Comey for sharing his notes of meetings with Trump, Sanders had said that recommending the prosecution of a former FBI director is not the president's job. Pretty clearly, using the White House podium to recommend a private company fire somebody for criticizing the president is not the press secretary's job.

In a statement, Hill said she was sorry that her public comments about Trump "painted ESPN in an unfair light," and ESPN said it had accepted her apology. Her comments landed amid a growing conservative critique of ESPN's perceived shift into politics.

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