The White House criticized reporters Tuesday for their persistent questions about adult-film actress Stormy Daniels and her alleged sexual encounter in 2006.
Asked why the president has been silent on Twitter about the film star’s accusations, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Mr. Trump has more important things to do.
“I don’t think it’s silent when the president has addressed this, we’ve addressed it extensively, there’s nothing else to add,” Mrs. Sanders told reporters. “Just because you guys continue to ask the same question over and over and over again doesn’t mean we have to come up with new things to say. We addressed it. We addressed it extensively and there’s nothing new to add to this conversation.”
Ms. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, accepted payment of $130,000 from Trump lawyer Michael Cohen in October 2016 and signed an agreement to keep quiet about the alleged fling.
But she has since tried to get out the agreement and gave a widely watched interview with “60 Minutes” on Sunday night in which she provided more details of the encounter.
Mrs. Sanders said the president is too busy to respond to the accusations.
“I didn’t say he punches back on every single topic,” she said. “If he did, he would probably be addressing a lot of the stories that you guys write every single minute of the day. He has a job to do and a country to run, and he’s doing a great job with that. That’s why the economy is booming, [the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq] is on the run, we’re remaking the judiciary and pushing his agenda through. Sometimes he chooses to punch back and sometimes he doesn’t.”
Asked by a reporter about former President Jimmy Carter’s comment that Americans want a president with basic moral values, Mrs. Sanders said the president’s supporters are still with him.
“I think the people of this country came out by the millions to support Donald Trump, to support his agenda and the policies that he’s pushing forward,” she said. “He has been delivering day in and day out on that front. He’s kept a number of his campaign promises. That’s only been within the first one and a half years.”
She added, “I think the people that voted for and came out and supported him still do so and do so because they believed in the agenda that he was driving and he’s been delivering on that since he came into office.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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