The Sarah Huckabee Sanders disappearing act just got even weirder

| 10:02 pm EDT March 27, 2018
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Yesterday, when it came time for the first White House press briefing in response to the Stormy Daniels interview on 60 Minutes, regular briefer Sarah Huckabee Sanders was nowhere to be found. Instead her bumbling deputy Raj Shah was sent to the podium to face questions about Daniels’ assertion that Donald Trump sent a goon to physically threaten her. Palmer Report pointed out the pattern in which Huckabee Sanders tends to disappear whenever certain topics come into play. Sure enough, today the saga got even weirder.

People have legitimate reasons to miss work. One conveniently timed absence doesn’t necessarily demonstrate anything. But when it comes to Sarah Huckabee Sanders, this is not the first time she’s ditched the press briefing when it would have required her to lie on the Trump administration’s behalf about alleged violence against women. She also ditched the first press briefing after the Rob Porter domestic violence scandal exploded, sending an unprepared Shah out there instead.

When we pointed out the pattern yesterday, some observers asked if perhaps Huckabee Sanders was merely on vacation, as schools tend to be on spring break this time of year, and she has young kids. However, no such vacation had been announced; she simply didn’t show up for the briefing yesterday, and no one involved provided any explanation for it. If she were on vacation this week and the incompetent Trump White House simply forgot to announce it, we’d see that soon enough, when she didn’t show up for the rest of the week’s briefings.

But sure enough, Sarah Huckabee Sanders was right back out there handling the White House press briefing today, as if nothing had happened. This was a one-day absence, which just happened to coincide with questions about the Trump administration and violence against women. Again, we’d give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that maybe she had a dentist appointment or something, if not for the fact that she keeps vanishing from briefings of this particular type.