CNN anchor Jake Tapper said Thursday that White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders's statement that it's "highly inappropriate" to question the statements of military generals is "un-American."

"I have tremendous respect for the military but the notion that no one can even question the statements of generals is un-American," said Tapper in reference to comments Sanders made at a press briefing earlier Friday, where she defended the since-debunked claims of White House chief of staff Gen. John Kelly John Francis KellyMORE.

I have tremendous respect for the military but the notion that no one can even question the statements of generals is un-American. — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 20, 2017

Sanders told reporters at the briefing that "if you want to get into a debate with a 4-star Marine general, I think that's something highly inappropriate."

"In what country?" Tapper asked in another tweet.

.@PressSec: "If you want to get into a debate with a 4-star Marine general, I think that's something highly inappropriate"



In what country? — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 20, 2017

The press secretary's comments came in defense of Kelly's false statement that Rep. Frederica Wilson Frederica Patricia WilsonHarris calls it 'outrageous' Trump downplayed coronavirus House passes bill establishing commission to study racial disparities affecting Black men, boys Florida county official apologizes for social media post invoking Hitler MORE (D-Fla.) had taken credit for the funding that led to the construction of a Miami FBI field office, calling her an "empty barrel."

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Kelly was defending President Trump's handling of a phone call with the widow of a fallen U.S. soldier who was killed in Niger, after both the mother and Wilson, who claimed to have overheard the phone call, said that Trump had been disrespectful to the grieving family.

Tapper is CNN's chief Washington correspondent and author of "The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor," which details a deadly encounter between U.S. soldiers and Taliban forces in Afghanistan and the later questioning of the Pentagon over the purpose of the soldiers' operations there.