Huckabee: Daughter ‘has no desire’ to take Spicer’s job

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) on Friday shut down rumors that his daughter, Deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, could replace current White House press secretary Sean Spicer, after she filled in during multiple press briefings this week.

“She likes what she’s doing. She really, really likes Sean [Spicer] and respects him a lot and really enjoys working with him and has no desire to take the job that he has,” Huckabee told Fox News. “It’s frustrating to her because she’s loyal to the president, and she’s loyal to Sean. She’s going to be grateful for the opportunity she has, and she has no intention of being anything but the person who is the deputy press secretary.”

{mosads}Huckabee also joked that Sanders might prefer joining the Navy to assuming Spicer’s role.

“After this week Sarah might think it’s easier to be in the Navy at war than to go in that briefing room. She may enlist just to get an easier job, enlist for frontline combat,” Huckabee said.

Spicer on Friday returned to the White House after Sanders covered for him earlier this week. The press secretary, whose absence was long-planned, was missing from one of the most volatile cycles of President Trump’s tenure so far, after Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey. 

Comey’s ouster was controversial due to the FBI’s ongoing probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Sanders has been filling in for Spicer since May 5, leaving her as one of the administration’s most visible faces after Comey’s exit.