Sarah Sanders 'protecting herself' by refusing to deny that Trump directed Roger Stone: CNN

Just moments after White House press secretary Sarah Sanders ended an interview with CNN about the arrest of President Donald Trump's longtime associate Roger Stone, host Jim Sciutto wondered why she hadn't answered many of the questions posed to her.

"Our colleague John Berman pressed her repeatedly and said 'did the president encourage a senior campaign aide to reach out to Wikileaks'," Sciutto said. "She didn't answer the question."

Co-host Poppy Harlow agreed that Sanders' frequent evasions were "telling."

Berman had raised "really direct questions about the president and what he knew about communications Roger Stone, a confidante of his for decades, had with Wikileaks about getting stolen information to hurt Hillary Clinton," she said. "There was a lot that she didn't answer."

Sciutto said Berman's line of questioning should "have been an easy one to answer definitively."

"It raises the question here: does she know for sure? Is she perhaps protecting herself if it turns out that the president was involved in those communications, right, and [she] finds out later?" he asked. "This is a situation we have been with before with White House spokespeople when the truth comes out later after denials in the first instance."

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