Who Is Sarah Huckabee Sanders? White House Spokeswoman Defends Trump’s Allegations of Obama Wiretapping

Many people were left wondering how President Donald Trump could accuse his predecessor President Barack Obama of ordering a wiretap of Trump Tower during the presidential race without providing any evidence of the explosive claim Saturday morning. But the next day, when Americans tuned into the Sunday news shows curious for an explanation, they didn’t see White House counselor Kellyanne Conway trying to defend his claims. They also didn’t see Trump’s Press Secretary Sean Spicer, nor did adviser Stephen Miller show up.

Instead, Sarah Huckabee Sanders took the reins.

Sanders was speaking as the White House deputy press secretary. Although she’s been on the news before, her contentious interview with ABC’s Martha Raddatz spread quickly throughout social media Sunday.

“I will let the president speak for himself,” Sanders said after Raddatz asked her about Trump’s allegations.

“You’re a spokesperson!” responded an exasperated Raddatz.

If Sanders’ name sounds familiar, that’s because it is: She’s the daughter Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and former Republican presidential candidate. The 34-year-old worked on her father’s presidential campaigns in both 2008 and 2016, working as a national political director and campaign manager.

But in February 2016, after her father suspended his campaign, she was hired by Trump’s team. Sanders called Trump a "champion of working families; not Washington-Wall Street elites,” and in September, she joined Trump’s communication staff. Her newest role as deputy press secretary was announced in January.

Although Sanders has worked on numerous presidential campaigns, she also ran Second Street Strategies, a political consulting firm in Little Rock, Arkansas.

In 2010, she was featured as one of Time Magazine’s 40 Under 40 civic leaders; the piece reported she “honed her political chops on his colorful but unsuccessful campaign for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008.”

“I don't know where I will be in 5 weeks let alone five years,” she said in her Time Magazine interview seven years ago. “But if I am still working in politics I hope I never lose sight of why I got involved in the first place.