Watch Sarah Huckabee Sanders boldly deny something Trump said on camera hours earlier


At a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, President Trump threatened to try to send Sayfullo Saipov, the suspect in Tuesday's fatal truck attack in lower Manhattan, to the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, despite the fact that Saipov has permanent U.S. residence. "We need quick justice and we need strong justice — much quicker and much stronger than we have right now — because what we have right now is a joke and it's a laughingstock," Trump said, on camera.
Perhaps calling the U.S. justice system a laughingstock was not viewed as a good presidential move in other quarters of the White House, because when CNN's Jim Acosta asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders about Trump's comments a few hours later, she essentially denied that he said it. "That's not what he said," Sanders replied. "He said that process has people calling us a joke and calling us a laughingstock."
A few hours after that, Acosta still couldn't believe the exchange. He started to read Trump's comments again, and Anderson Cooper cut in. "It's on video, let's just play him saying it." After the clip, Cooper shook his head. "Sarah Huckabee Sanders knows what the president said, she just is pretending he said something else," he said. Acosta called her gross mischaracterization "disappointing." Cooper couldn't get past the blatancy of it. "It's one thing to lie about, you know, something that wasn't actually recorded," he began, then fumbled for words. Watch below. Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Book reviews: 'America, América: A New History of the New World' and 'Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson'
Feature A historian tells a new story of the Americas and the forgotten story of a pioneering preacher
-
Another messaging app used by the White House is in hot water
The Explainer TeleMessage was seen being used by former National Security Adviser Mike Waltz
-
AI hallucinations are getting worse
In the Spotlight And no one knows why it is happening
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea
speed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'
speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'
-
Trump is not sure he must follow the Constitution
speed read When asked about due process for migrants in a TV interview, President Trump said he didn't know whether he had to uphold the Fifth Amendment
-
Trump judge bars deportations under 1798 law
speed read A Trump appointee has ruled that the president's use of a wartime act for deportations is illegal
-
Trump ousts Waltz as NSA, taps him for UN role
speed read President Donald Trump removed Mike Waltz as national security adviser and nominated him as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
-
Trump blames Biden for tariffs-linked contraction
speed read The US economy shrank 0.3% in the first three months of 2025, the Commerce Department reported
-
Trump says he could bring back Ábrego García but won't
Speed Read At a rally to mark his 100th day in office, the president doubled down on his unpopular immigration and economic policies
-
Canada's Liberals, Carney win national election
Speed Read The party of Prime Minister Mark Carney beat Conservative Pierre Poilievre thanks in part to Trump's trade war