Reporters Grill Huckabee Sanders Over Transgender Military Ban: Betrayal of LGBT Community?
Reporters grilled Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders today over President Trump‘s Twitter announcement about transgender soldiers in the military that took a lot of people by surprise.
ABC News’ John Karl brought up the ban and asked Huckabee Sanders directly whether transgender soldiers will be “immediately thrown out of the military.” She said it’s something the DOD and White House will have to figure out.
Karl pressed on whether if any transgender soldiers abroad will have to be “immediately sent home,” and Huckabee Sanders deferred again.
She said Trump certainly wants to protect every single American, but said the President believes this to be “a very expensive and disruptive policy.”
Fox News’ Kevin Corke asked what message the President is sending with this policy shift. She said it’s simply a “military decision.”
Minutes later, CBS News’ Major Garrett revisited the issue and brought up how people at the Pentagon seemed to be caught by surprise with this announcement from the President. Huckabee Sanders said Trump had been consulting with others before making this announcement.
“But you can’t answer the question,” Garrett added, “of what’s going to happen to transgenders who are in the military now. Shouldn’t you have been able to answer that basic question on a policy of this magnitude?”
Huckabee Sanders again deferred on this issue, saying the DOD and White House will work out the implementation.
NBC News’ Peter Alexander brought up President Trump’s 2016 tweet promising to “fight for” the LGBT community, asking, “Did the President today just betray his commitment to the transgender community?”
Huckabee Sanders said this was just about the issue of “military readiness.”
A few minutes later during the briefing, when reporters kept asking questions, she said, “Guys, I don’t really have anything else to add on that topic… If those are the only questions we have, I’m gonna call it a day. But if we have questions on other topics, I’ll be happy to take them.”
Watch the clips above, via Fox News.
[image via screengrab]
— —
