Washington, DC – The daily press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing room at the White House was as usual, with questions on North Korea and other mundane topics, till a student journalist asked a question about school shootings.
Getting visibly emotional and fighting tears, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders managed to answer a question from Benje Choucroun about school shootings during briefing.
With a scribe’s notebook in hand, Choucroun said, “At my school, we recently had a lockdown drill. One thing that affects mine and other students’ mental health is the worry about the fact that we or our friends could get shot at school.”
Then Choucroun asked, “Specifically, can you tell me what the administration has done and will do to prevent these senseless tragedies?”
Sarah Sanders started answering, “I think that as a kid, and certainly as a parent, there is nothing that could be more terrifying for a kid to go to school and not feel safe,” but couldn’t control her emotions as she continued, “So I’m sorry that you feel that way.”
Trying to unsuccessfully control her emotions, Sarah Sanders, a mother of three little kids herself, added, “This administration takes it seriously. And the School Safety Commission that the President convened is meeting this week, again, an official meeting to discuss the best ways forward and how we can do every single thing within our power to protect kids in our schools and to make them feel safe and make their parents feel good about dropping them off.”
Choucron, a student at Marin Country Day School in California, was in the White House covering the Sports and Fitness Day for Time for Kids magazine.
Tejinder Singh, Editor, India America Today & White House Correspondent