Sarah Sanders: Trump hasn’t ‘at any point’ done anything but ‘condemn violence against journalists’

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday that President Trump has only ever condemned violence against the media, distancing him from a recently arrested Coast Guard lieutenant’s plans to kill several high-profile Democrats and media personalities. 

After arrest of Coast Guard lieutenant, who allegedly amassed weapons and compiled list of Democratic lawmakers and journalists, Sarah Sanders says Pres. Trump hasn’t “at any point” done anything “but condemn violence, against journalists or anyone else.” https://t.co/vD1SnbtLMf pic.twitter.com/JO6LCpexIm

— ABC News (@ABC) February 22, 2019

Christopher Paul Hasson, a self-proclaimed white nationalist, was arrested Wednesday on gun and drug charges.

{mosads}Authorities said Hasson had stashed a cache of guns, compiled a hit list of prominent Democrats and called for the use of violence to “establish a white homeland.” 

“I certainly don’t think that the president has at any point done anything but condemn violence against journalists or anyone else. In fact, every single time something like this happens, the president is typically one of the first people to condemn the violence and the media is the first people to blame the president,” Sanders said Friday when asked if the president had any intention of toning down his criticism of the media. “We should all join together and condemn the violence whether it’s against members of the media, whether it’s against Democrats, Republicans, any person in this country.” 

Trump has yet to publicly condemn Hasson, whose hit list included MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough, Chris Hayes and Ari Melber; CNN hosts Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo and Van Jones; Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.); Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.); and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), among others.

Trump has tweeted a barrage of criticism directed at the media since the arrest was announced, saying, “The New York Times reporting is false. They are a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!” and “Fake News is so bad for our Country!” 

He’s also in the past praised Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.) for body slamming a reporter and considered paying the legal fees for a man who struck a protester at one of Trump’s campaign rallies.

“We endorsed Greg really early, but I heard that he had body-slammed a reporter. And he was way up … and I said, ‘Oh, this is terrible, he’s going to lose the election.’ But then I said, ‘Well, wait a minute, I know Montana pretty well, I think it might help him,’ and it did. … He’s a great guy and a tough cookie,” Trump said in October.