SE Cupp: White House playing the ‘woman card’ to help Trump CIA pick

HLN host and conservative commentator S.E. Cupp on Tuesday accused White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders of playing the “woman card” to try and boost President Trump’s CIA nominee.

Trump nominated Gina Haspel to replace Mike Pompeo as CIA director, touting that she would be the first female director of the agency. Haspel’s nomination has faced strong opposition from members of both parties over her involvement in the CIA black sites.

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Sanders on Saturday tweeted that any Democrat who supports women’s empowerment but does not support Haspel’s nomination is a “total hypocrite,” a stance Cupp described as “problematic.”

There is no one more qualified to be the first woman to lead the CIA than 30+ year CIA veteran Gina Haspel. Any Democrat who claims to support women’s empowerment and our national security but opposes her nomination is a total hypocrite

— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) May 5, 2018

“That’s not how any of this works,” Cupp said. “It’s also the kind of thing conservatives rightly mock and criticize liberals for doing all the time.”

She said that focusing on Haspel’s gender “directly undercuts” Sanders’s argument that Haspel is the most qualified candidate.

Cupp then spoke directly to the press secretary, urging her not to “pick up the left’s talking points.”

“Sarah, as conservative women, let’s not do the thing where we pit identity against ideology,” she said. “Let’s leave that to the left, which insists you and I are traitors to our gender.”

“You should know better than to pick up the left’s talking points and use our political identities as a weapon,” she added. “Then again, just look at who your boss is.”