Sarah Sanders: "God wanted Trump to become president"
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in an interview Wednesday with the Christian Broadcasting Network she believes God wanted Donald Trump to become president.
Sanders said she believes God calls everyone to fill different roles, and that he wanted Mr. Trump to lead the country. Here's the exchange Sanders had with CBN's David Brody:
BRODY: "From a spiritual perspective, for such a time as this, Donald Trump of all people, as you said earlier in the interview, the most conservative president, does it kind of blow your mind that someone like Donald Trump who is sitting in the Oval Office, I know you can list the accomplishments, but at the same time just from a spiritual perspective there are a lot of Christians who believe that for such a time as this ..."
SANDERS: "I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times and I think that he wanted Donald Trump to become president, and that's why he's there and I think he has done a tremendous job in supporting a lot of the things that people of faith really care about."
Sanders didn't expand — and wasn't pressed — on whether she believes God has also selected previous presidents, like Barack Obama.
In the interview with CBN, Sanders also addressed her relationship with the press, and the White House briefings that have become a rare occasion. Sanders suggested many reporters simply want to "trip you up."
"You know, it depends on the day, I do think that varies," Sanders said, asked what she feels when she faces reporters in the briefing room. "But you know, a lot of times, and I think people are free to look at it themselves, you see and this isn't everybody, and I don't want to generalize the crowd, but I mean, you do — you see a lot of like angry faces. People that their sole purpose is to find this 'gotcha' moment, to catch you. Their job is not to get information, which is what the briefing is supposed to be. It's to trip you up. And I think if the briefing loses purpose and it isn't a good resource for the American people to get information and answers to real questions, then you do have to wonder if that's the best form in order to put a message out. There's certainly no desire by our team and certainly by the President to withhold information."
"Again, we think we have an amazing story to tell, we're not afraid to take tough questions, but we want to make sure that it's productive and that it's not for the purpose of destroying the president, distorting the message, or destroying the messenger as we go through that process."
The full CBN interview will air Wednesday night.