Sarah Huckabee Sanders Defends Trump's Use Of Profanity Against NFL Players

WASHINGTON, DC —White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders would not specifically address President Trump's use of a profane epithet for NFL players who kneel during the national anthem when she briefed reporters Monday, but she continually defended his views on respect for the flag.

"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a b***h off the field right now! Out. He's fired. He's fired,'" Trump said at a campaign rally in Alabama Friday night.

"This isn’t about the President being against something, which is what everybody wants to draw," Sanders said Monday. "This is about the President being for something. This is about the President being for respecting our country through symbols like the American flag, like the national anthem, and the hundreds of thousands of people that actually stand versus the few hundred that may have knelt."

She also said that the protests were not about race, despite the fact that Colin Kaepernick, who first drew widespread attention for his refusing to stand during the anthem, has explicitly said his protest was about race. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

"I think that the focus has long since changed and certainly the message and what a lot has been communicated over these last several weeks through this process — through this protest by these players," Sanders said.

Sanders also discussed the comments by the foreign minister in North Korea, who said that Trump's recent comments constituted a declaration of war.

"We've not declared war on North Korea," she said. "And frankly, the suggestion of that is absurd."

Watch a replay of the briefing below.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images