White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Tuesday that President Trump’s recent tweet saying that Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) “would do anything” for campaign contributions could be seen as sexual innuendo “only if your mind is in the gutter.”
Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office “begging” for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017
Multiple reporters, including CNN contributor April Ryan who repeatedly spars with Sanders, demanded answers about the tweet.
WH says Trump doesn't owe Sen. Gillibrand an apology and that Trump's tweet only suggestive 'if your mind is in the gutter' pic.twitter.com/apJqCDmzLg
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) December 12, 2017
Ryan told Sanders many people think “that it’s about sexual innuendo.”
“I think only if your mind is in the gutter would you have read it that way,” Sanders said.
“He’s obviously talking about political partisan games that people often play and the broken system that he’s talked about repeatedly,” Sanders told Ryan. “This isn’t new, this isn’t a new sentiment, this isn’t new terminology. He’s used it several times before.”
“He’s used similar terminology many times when talking about politicians of both parties, both men and women, and certainly in his campaign to drain the swamp," Sanders told ABC’s Cecilia Vargas. "The system is clearly broken it’s clearly rigged for special interests and this president is someone that can’t be bought.”
Sen. Gillibrand responded to the tweet Tuesday by replying that Trump “cannot silence” her. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, in an attempt to defend her colleague, seemed to misuse the term “slut-shaming” when condemning Trump for his tweet.