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Sarah Elisabeth Huckabee SandersAmerican statesman and political figure
Date of Birth: 13.08.1982
Country:  USA |
Content:
- Early Life and Education
- Career
- Tsamoutales Strategies and Consulting Firm
- 2016 Presidential Campaign and Trump Administration
- White House Press Secretary
- Personal Life
Early Life and Education
Sara Elizabeth Huckabee Sanders was born on August 13, 1982, in Hope, Arkansas. She is the youngest child and only daughter of Janet McCain and Mike Huckabee, a former Governor of Arkansas. She has two older brothers, John Mark and David Huckabee. Sanders attended Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. She graduated from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, where she served as student body president and was active in the College Republican organization.
Sanders' interest in politics developed at a young age, beginning at nine when her father first ran for governor of Arkansas in 1992. Describing the unsuccessful campaign, Sanders noted that "they had very little staff, so our whole family really got involved and supported my father in a big way. I would stuff envelopes, I would knock on doors, I would put up yard signs." Huckabee himself commented on his daughter's childhood, stating, "I always think that when most kids were seven or eight, skipping rope, she was sitting at the kitchen table listening to political consultants analyze exit polls." Huckabee also added that while Sanders, as the youngest child, was sometimes coddled, he and his wife worked to ensure that all their children understood the value of hard work.
Career
Early InvolvementSanders launched her political career as a statewide coordinator for her father's 2002 re-election campaign for Governor of Arkansas. She briefly served as a regional Congressional liaison at the Department of Education before working as a statewide coordinator for President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign in Ohio. In 2008, she served as national political director for her father's presidential campaign, despite some concerns raised by voters that Huckabee's views, such as referring to homosexuality as a sin and supporting quarantines for AIDS patients, were extreme. Sanders also worked as a manager for John Boozman's 2010 Senate campaign, a senior adviser for Tim Pawlenty's 2012 presidential campaign, and an adviser to Tom Cotton's 2014 Senate campaign. In 2010, Sanders was named to Time magazine's "40 Under 40" list of rising stars in American politics.
Tsamoutales Strategies and Consulting Firm
In 2011, Sanders joined Frank Tsamoutales' lobbying firm, Tsamoutales Strategies, as Director of Strategic Initiatives, and in 2014, became its Vice-President. Sanders left this position in 2015 to start her own firm. She also served as Executive Director of her father's organization Huck PAC, a conservative super-PAC focused on electing Republicans in all 50 states. In 2016, Sanders and her husband founded a Little Rock-based political consulting firm, Second Street Strategies.
2016 Presidential Campaign and Trump Administration
Sanders became campaign manager for her father's 2016 presidential campaign. After Huckabee dropped out of the race following the Iowa caucuses, Sanders joined Donald Trump's campaign, which was actively recruiting former Bush administration officials as aides. On February 25, Trump named Sanders as his senior adviser.
After Trump's victory in the presidential election, Sanders was appointed Deputy White House Press Secretary on January 19, 2017. On May 5, she held her first White House press briefing, filling in for Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who had left for Pentagon reserve duty with the U.S. Navy. Sanders substituted for Spicer until May 12, during which time she had to repeatedly explain to reporters the circumstances surrounding Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey. Mike Huckabee commented at the time that Sanders enjoyed working with Spicer and had no desire to take over his job. However, media reports soon began circulating about Sanders potentially replacing Spicer.
With her frequent appearances before the press, Sanders became the target of parodies on the comedy television show "Saturday Night Live," with Aidy Bryant portraying her alongside Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer. Mike Huckabee denounced the parodies as "stupid, sexist, and misogynistic," despite having previously said that "one of the great honors in life is to be parodied. It's kind of a testament to the fact that you have become part of the real power." On June 5, after White House Communications Director Michael Dubke resigned and Spicer resumed some of his duties, Sanders again began filling in at press briefings. According to media reports, Trump had grown unhappy with the public criticism Spicer was receiving and Spicer himself had begun searching for replacements, with Sanders reportedly among the possible candidates.
During a press briefing on June 27, Sanders criticized journalists for spreading "fake news" about Trump, and encouraged them to watch a new video by conservative journalist James O'Keefe that accused CNN of fabricating a story about Russian election interference in order to "boost ratings." Sanders emphasized that she could not vouch for the accuracy of the information presented, even though O'Keefe had been repeatedly accused of editing and fabricating his videos and had been convicted for trying to break into a federal building to spy on then-Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu. Sanders' use of the White House podium to promote a partisan attack drew criticism from journalists. On June 29, Sanders filled in at the podium again, despite Spicer being present in the White House. While Sanders avoided some of the controversies that plagued Spicer, she continued to aggressively defend the Trump administration from press criticism.
White House Press Secretary
On July 21, 2017, Spicer abruptly announced his resignation during a press briefing in protest of Trump's appointment of financier Anthony Scaramucci as White House Communications Director. In an interview with Fox News, Spicer said he had no regrets about his six-month tenure in the White House and that his resignation gave the Trump administration "a clean slate." Hours later, Scaramucci appeared at a press briefing alongside Sanders and announced that she was being promoted to the position of White House Press Secretary, replacing Spicer. Sanders said that serving in this capacity and being the voice of the president was "one of the greatest honors," and she read a statement from Trump expressing gratitude to Spicer for his service. Spicer later tweeted that he would not leave his post until August. However, later that day, Trump accepted Spicer's resignation and Sanders' appointment was formalized with a White House press release. She became the third woman to serve as White House Press Secretary, following Dee Dee Myers and Dana Perino.
On July 23, Press Secretary Sanders appeared on ABC News' "This Week" program to discuss the Russia sanctions bill that was moving through Congress. She stated that "the administration had a very tough stance on Russia, particularly when it comes to sanctions. The original bill that was drafted was poorly written, but we've been working with the House and the Senate, and the administration is very happy with the way that they've been working with us to make amendments to this bill, and we support the bill in its current form." The bill passed both chambers of Congress, but before it was signed into law, the Russian government imposed restrictions on American diplomats, prompting Sanders to issue a press statement saying that President Trump "had reviewed the final version and, since his concerns have been addressed, he is lifting sanctions and intends to sign."
Personal Life
Sanders speaks with a Southern accent. She has been friends since childhood with Mack McLarty, former White House Chief of Staff under Bill Clinton. While critical of Barack Obama's accomplishments as president, she has praised him as a good parent and family man.
In 2010, Sanders married Bryan Chatfield Sanders, a Republican political consultant who advised her father during the 2008 campaign, at the Lutheran Church of the Nazarene on the island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. They have three children: a daughter, Scarlett, and two sons, Huck and George.
On June 10, 2017, an intriguing tweet appeared on Sanders' Twitter page, consisting entirely of emojis. Journalists counted 16 stoplights, 8 world maps, and 4 castles in the message, leading them to search for hidden meaning similar to the cryptic "covfefe" tweet that Donald Trump had posted two weeks earlier. Several hours later, Sanders tweeted a follow-up message clarifying that her 3-year-old son, Huck, had gotten hold of her phone and advised others to lock their devices in the future.
On June 22, 2018, Sanders and her family were dining at The Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, when the owner, Stephanie Wilkinson, asked them to leave because she felt that Sanders' actions as White House Press Secretary were supporting Trump's policies, including the separation of immigrant families at the border.
