White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended her Saturday night tweet of a photo of President Donald Trump and his team being “briefed” about the Syria crisis, saying it was “not misleading at all” despite online chatter.
The tweet touted Trump’s decision on Friday to order military air strikes in Syria: “Last night the President put our adversaries on notice: when he draws a red line he enforces it.”
But the Twitterverse noted that the tweet included a photo of a briefing in the White House situation room that included Vice President Mike Pence, who was actually in Peru on Friday at a summit of Latin America leaders.
On Sunday, Sanders clarified that the photo came from a briefing earlier in the week. “It’s from Thursday meeting when he was briefed on Syria,” Sanders said in an email to Politico. “So no, not misleading at all.”
Last night the President put our adversaries on notice: when he draws a red line he enforces it. (Inside the Situation Room as President is briefed on Syria – Official WH photos by Shealah Craighead) pic.twitter.com/GzOSejdqQh
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) April 15, 2018
But many online commenters and journalists noted that Sanders tweet included a note that suggested that the photo might have come from the “last night” she referenced: “Inside the Situation Room as President is briefed on Syria Official WH photos by Shealah Craighead.”
The media took note of the wording of Sanders’ original tweet, calling it misinformation.
Friday night @VP was off to Peru. @nikkihaley was in NY for UN. @PressSec appeared to be wearing this striped blouse at Wednesday's briefing so this behind the scenes photo in Situation Room likely not taken "last night" as tweet suggests but earlier in week https://t.co/RckDaLvOsF
— Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) April 15, 2018
This is a photo from a briefing earlier in the week because Pence was in Peru on Friday when Trump ordered the strikes in Syria https://t.co/awydM174Lz
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) April 15, 2018
Sanders responded to the criticism and cleared up the matter in a Sunday tweet: “As I said, the President put our adversaries on notice that he enforces red lines with the strike on Syria Friday night. The photo was taken Thursday in the Situation Room during Syria briefing.”
As I said, the President put our adversaries on notice that he enforces red lines with the strike on Syria Friday night. The photo was taken Thursday in the Situation Room during Syria briefing.
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) April 15, 2018