White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders poured cold water on speculation that conservative commentator Ann Coulter held any sway over President Trump’s policies.
“I don’t think Ann Coulter has any influence over anything. I just don’t see her as being an influential voice in this country, and certainly not one in this building,” Sanders said Friday on Fox News.
{mosads}Coulter has, in recent months, criticized Trump and his administration for policies she says are too soft on immigration. Critics have speculated that Coulter pushed Trump toward a more hard-line stance on immigration.
Trump on Friday dismissed any suspected ties with Coulter, saying he doesn’t know her.
“Probably if I did speak to her, she’d be very nice. I just don’t have the time to speak to her. I would speak to her. I have nothing against her,” he said.
“But she’s off the reservation,” Trump concluded. “But anybody that knows her understands that. But I haven’t spoken to her. I don’t follow her. I don’t talk to her.”
Coulter, who in 2016 authored “In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome!,” ripped the president for agreeing to sign a bipartisan deal to fund the government that allotted $1.375 billion for a border wall, far less than the $5.7 billion he had previously demanded.
“GOP motto: NEXT TIME! We’re selling out our constituents this time — but we’ll get to our promises NEXT TIME. We thought Trump was different,” she tweeted Thursday after Trump signaled he would sign the funding bill and declare a national emergency to appropriate additional border wall funds.