White House correspondent April Ryan continues to hold the feet of White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, aka Aunt Lydia, aka Under His Smoky Eye, aka Suckabee, to the flames.
On Thursday, God’s favorite black reporter tried to pin down the elusive Suckabee as to whether the president planned to answer any questions from special counselor Robert Mueller’s investigation into all things Russia-related. Suckabee did her normal Matrix-style dodging by referring Sanders to the president’s attorneys, The Hill reports.
Ryan, a veteran reporter for American Urban Radio Networks, decided to switch gears, asking if Donald Trump was hurt by his latest attorney Rudy Giuliani’s admission that the president did, in fact, know that his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen paid $130,000 in hush money to porn actress Stormy Daniels and that the president paid Cohen back. These are all claims that Trump vehemently denied before Giuliani’s unraveling during interviews with Fox News.
Giuliani’s claims not only contradicted the president’s account but also contradicted Suckabee’s past statements that the president was unaware of payments made from Cohen to Daniels.
In response to Ryan’s question about whether Giuliani’s statements did harm to the president, Suckabee answered with a curt, “I don’t believe so,” and tried to move past Ryan to call on another reporter. Not on Ryan’s watch.
Ryan strong-armed Suckabee into answering a third question, a luxury usually given only to Fox News reporters.
Ryan wanted to know why Giuliani didn’t speak to the White House press office before he made such damaging statements on behalf of the president.
A smug Suckabee replied, “The White House press office wouldn’t coordinate with president’s outside legal team on legal strategy.”
“You said yourself you were blindsided,” Ryan stated. To which Suckabee contended that she’d never used the term “blindsided.”
“Well, I said it. But you were blindsided, from what you said,” Ryan shot back.
“With all due respect, you don’t know much about me in terms of what I feel and what I don’t,” Suckabee replied. “I think we’re done.” She then moved on to take questions from other reporters.
During a CNN interview, Ryan explained that Suckabee was in her feelings and, as a result, used “street politics.”
“It was a moment. She took this personally [being accused of being blindsided] and it was not a personal attack.” ... “She admitted at that podium just moments ago and I’m sure she’s watching in her office, ‘Hi, Sarah,’ that she literally said at that podium that she heard Rudy Giuliani while we heard it.” ...
“She was watching, she found out all of the information while she was watching Fox last night. So she was blindsided. This was not a personal attack on her. And for her to say something like, ‘You don’t know me’ — that was very street,” Ryan said.
“I know there are street politics here but that was very street. I’ve been here 21 years from this White House, from the second term of Bill Clinton until the first term of Donald J. Trump. I’ve seen impeachment, I’ve seen war, I’ve seen peace. So I understand the process. I’m not a dummy and do not discredit me. That’s what my comeback was,” Ryan said.
According to Newsweek, Ryan added: “In certain sectors of this nation, people understand what ‘You don’t know me’ means,” Ryan said. “It’s very street. And it leads to a fight. A physical fight.”
My money is on Ryan. In fact, all my money is on Ryan.