Sarah Huckabee Sanders defends President Donald Trump on Fox News, June 29, 2017.
The White House on Thursday defended President Donald Trump's attack on "Morning Joe" host Mika Brzezinski, who he tweeted was "bleeding badly from a face-lift" during a recent visit to his Mar-a-Lago estate.
"There have been an outrageous number of personal attacks - not just to him -but to everyone around him," Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House deputy press secretary, said on Fox News.
"This is a president who fights fire with fire and certainly will not be allowed to be bullied by liberal media and the liberal elites within the media or Hollywood or anywhere else," she added.
"I think what's necessary is to push back against unnecessary attacks on the president," Sanders said. "I've seen far worse come out of that show.
Trump attacked the "Morning Joe" hosts Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough in a series of tweets Thursday, calling them "Psycho Joe" and "low I.Q. Crazy Mika."
"I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me," Trump tweeted on Thursday. "She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!"
Top Republican lawmakers on Thursday denounced Trump's attack on Brzezinski both to reporters and on Twitter.