John Dickerson on pitfalls of Sean Spicer backing Trump's debunked claims
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer doubled down on President Trump’s unsubstantiated claims that 3 to 5 million people voted illegally in the presidential election, costing Mr. Trump the popular vote.
The president and White House have not produced any credible evidence to back up the claims, which are disputed by state elections officials. The only proof Mr. Trump claims to have are debunked and flawed studies.
CBS News political director and “Face The Nation” moderator John Dickerson told Scott Pelley that the administration faces risks in pushing untrue information.
“The reason it’s important to have a president believe in things that are true is that it creates a sense of belief in everything he says, but more importantly, the most important quality for a White House staff is the ability to tell a president something he doesn’t want to hear and contradict him when he believes something that is not true,” Dickerson said.
“And if they are not able to do it in this case, the question is whether they’ll be able to do it on more serious matters.”
Watch the video above for more of Dickerson’s conversation with Pelley.
