Sarah Sanders faceplants when asked about vetting Ronny Jackson: Look back at John Kerry

In a Wednesday interview with Fox News, Sarah Huckabee Sanders struggled when questioned about President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Host Bill Hemmer asked what they're anticipating with the Ronny Jackson nomination, and Sanders seemed to not only continue to throw her enthusiastic support behind Jackson, she also dragged Trump and the White House with her. Then appeared to backpedal when pressed.

"No change as of this hour?" Hemmer asked, knowing things change quickly in the Trump White House.

"Look, the president kind of left that up to Dr. Jackson to make that determination," Sanders said. "At this point as the president said yesterday he is a great man. He hates to see him go through this process. It's part of the reason I think most Americans hate Washington. Washington has become so broken that they focus so much on destroying people they aren't even talking about his qualifications to run the V.A.. they're talking about personal character assassination."

Sanders neglected to note the solid week of commentary questioning Jackson's fitness for the position to lead the VA.

"We've seen it time and time again," she claimed. "And I think that we really need to look at the way the process is handled. They did this with Director [Mike] Pompeo. Somebody, who is incredibly qualified, should have been moved forward much quicker and frankly with a lot more bipartisan support. You have one of the most uniquely qualified individuals that's coming in to take on the role of Secretary of State. Somebody who they unanimously supported in previous positions and they play political games."

She repeated again that such vetting is why people hate Washington politics.

"I think you have to look back at how history has operated in the past," Sanders said. "You had votes for people like Sen. John Kerry. When you have people that are voting for John Kerry both Republicans and Democrats yet they question Mike Pompeo there is something broken in the system. That this isn't just about President Trump but it is about political politics of the worst kind."

When nominated, there was excessive condemnation of Pompeo from his anti-Muslim history to his agreement with Trump on any and all issues. Kerry, by contrast, has a long history of diplomatic relationships and was regarded to be one of the most significant secretaries of state, The Nation wrote.