White House communications staffer Mercedes Schlapp was unable to explain President Donald Trump‘s statement that the author of the New York Times op-ed should be turned over to the government for national security purposes.
Appearing on Outnumbered: Overtime, Schlapp fielded a question from host Harris Faulkner about why learning the identity of the writer is a matter of national security.
“It’s very clear that this apparent senior administration official is doing what he or she can to be deceitful,” she said. “To ensure that they basically resist or obstruct what the president’s agenda is. That is outright dangerous because the mere fact that what you want in your team is making sure individuals are able to support the president’s agenda.”
Schlapp, you’ll notice, totally ducked the question. But Faulkner wouldn’t let Schlapp off the hook.
“I want to understand it, how does it put national security at risk to have an op-ed person not be named?” Faulkner asked, following up.
Schlapp had nothing.
“I can’t comment on the internal deliberation or any part of a future investigation,” she said. “What I can tell you is what this anonymous source has done is really — it’s really unfortunate.
Watch above, via Fox News.
[featured image via screengrab]