White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders sparred with reporters Thursday over President Trump’s incendiary tweets attacking the hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don’t watch anymore),” Trump wrote in a two-part tweet Thursday morning. “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. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!”

The president’s words were immediately met with criticism from politicians from both sides of the aisle, and the attacks on Brzezinski’s intelligence and appearance were roundly denounced as sexist.

The White House, as is its wont, did not back down.

In Thursday’s press briefing, Sanders became outwardly exasperated at the volume of questions she was asked about the tweets. She framed Trump’s attack as the president defending himself after being “personally attacked, day after day, minute by minute.”

“He does it one time,” Sanders said. She went on to argue that Trump’s outburst was justified because critics had launched “a war on this president and everybody that works for him.”

Sanders also lamented specific insults she said had been lobbed at the president. “’Utterly stupid, personality disorder, mentally ill,’ constant personal attacks,” she said.

White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders calls on a reporter during the daily press briefing June 29, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

One reporter, pointing out that Sanders has frequently spoken about her family at the briefing room podium, asked how she would explain the president’s behavior to her young children.

“As a person of faith, I think we all have one perfect role model,” Sanders responded.

“That’s where I tell my kids to look,” she added. “None of us are perfect, certainly there is only one that is and I would point in that direction.”

Sanders also hinted the White House was not concerned about Trump’s support base abandoning him.

“They knew what they were getting when they voted for Donald Trump,” Sanders said.

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