In an otherwise tame press briefing, by their standards during this administration, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders took multiple questions from CNN's Jim Acosta and April Ryan, only briefly interrupting Acosta by saying "that's not accurate" and "that's not true."
Acosta has had his White House hard pass revoking and reinstated after a controversial dustup with a White House intern, but both Acosta and Ryan were granted multiples of questions at Tuesday's White House press briefing, which was standing-room only.
Acosta asked Sanders about President Donald Trump's recommendations to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort after special counsel Robert Mueller has alleged Manafort has lied to prosecutors, breaking his plea agreement. He then followed up, without Sanders' objection, about President Trump's perceived lack of trust in his advisers.
"The president doesn't believe the CIA when it comes to [murdered Saudi dissident] Jamal Khashoggi," Acosta said.
"That's not accurate," Sanders interjected.
"Why doesn't he have faith in his advisers?" Acosta continued.
"That's not true," Sanders replied. "The president has a great deal of faith in the intelligence community and certainly in the team he has assembled around him."
Acosta doubled back to the Khashoggi remarks by President Trump questioning Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's (MBS) involvement in the Khashoggi slaying.
"We haven't seen definitive evidence from our intelligence community that ties [MBS] to that," Sanders said. "What we have seen is a number of individuals that we know are tied to that, and those individuals have been sanctioned.
"The people that we have no doubt about their involvement, we've taken action on. As [President Trump] said, we will see what happens beyond that. And if there is more definitive information, we'll make a decision at that point."
Earlier this month, the White House outlined press briefing rules where reporters are permitted only "a single question" and follow-up questions will be taken only "at the discretion of the president or other White House officials." Also, reporters must "physically surrender" the mic when directed and violations of "any" of these rules "may result in suspension or revocation."
The White House Correspondents Association had then issued a statement, rejecting the laid-out rules: "For as long as there have been White House press conferences, White House reporters have asked follow-up questions. We fully expect this tradition will continue."
Journalists were asking multiple questions of White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow, National Security Adviser John Bolton, and press secretary Sanders.
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