Watch Sarah Huckabee Sanders battle MSNBC's Hallie Jackson over Trump's FISA tweets

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders

(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/CNN)

published 11 January 2018

President Trump began Thursday by tweeting out two very different takes on a sweeping surveillance law, all but ensuring an eventful day for his press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Sure enough, the afternoon briefing did not disappoint, as Sanders insisted Trump's tweets — the first insinuating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act had been used nefariously to "abuse the Trump campaign," the second imploring the House to extend the bill because "we need it!" — were entirely in concert with one another.

Sanders insisted that Trump has a "full understanding" of the FISA debate, additionally pointing to comments made earlier Thursday by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) that defended the president's knowledge of the issue. "It is well-known that he has concerns about the domestic FISA law," said Ryan, who went on to acknowledge that the domestic law was "not what we're doing today." Ryan reportedly called Trump after the president's first tweet this morning to clarify the White House position.