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Sarah Huckabee Sanders Makes The Bizarre Claim That James Comey Committed ‘Atrocities’ As FBI Director

After contending with the Morning Joe crew during her contentious appearance on the MSNBC morning show, White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders stood in for a noticeably absent Sean Spicer at Wednesday’s press briefing. Needless to say the topic of FBI Director James Comey’s firing came up, and during the course of her long-winded attempt to explain the president’s thought process, Sanders inadvertently got caught up in her delivery and chose a word she’s probably now regretting. And not just because journalists and Twitter at large are roasting her for it.

Unsurprisingly, Sanders explained, Trump’s decision to fire Comey had to do with how the ousted official allegedly mishandled his agency’s investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. That, and the letter Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gave the president recommending Comey’s termination:

“I think also having a letter like the one he received and having that conversation that outlined the basic… atrocities in circumventing the chain of command in the Department of Justice. Any person of legal mind and authority knows what a big deal that is, particularly in the Department of Justice, particularly for somebody like the deputy attorney general who has been part of the Department of Justice for 30 years and is such a respected person. When he saw that, he had to speak up on that action, and I think that was the final catalyst.”


Much of what Sanders had to say about Rosenstein’s letter, and Trump’s decision based on it and Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ own recommendation, isn’t new. What is new, however, was her spur of the moment use of the word “atrocities” to describe Comey’s actions in the Clinton emails investigation.


https://twitter.com/CillizzaCNN/status/862366238219153408

https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/862380191267663874

Surprisingly, the troll-tastic Merriam-Webster Twitter account hasn’t responded to Sanders’ word choice as of this writing. Though we’re pretty sure it’s coming.

(Via CNN)