like vladimir putin s russia where political opponents are not only routinely jailed. sometimes shot and poisoned. or in iran where this week at least 21 people have been killed during political protests. iran s notorious prison is believed to have an entire wing only for political prisoners. sara murray is outfront at the white house. on this issue of the deep state, the president obviously seems to be making the case that his own justice department is part of a deep state conspiracy against him. what does the white house say about that today? that s right. and look, obviously, we have heard complaints from this president before about his own justice department. but it s striking that he would go so far as to liken the justice department to part of the deep state, suggesting there is this broad conspiracy that somehow is taking place to undermine trump s presidency. now, no surprise, white house press secretary sarah sanders did not go that far when she was talking to reporters to
but she did add caveats to that. she did say that the white house believes that there should be changes that are taking place within the ranks of the justice department. she pointed to the facthat the president chose chris wray to lead the fbi and that he does have faith in his new fbi director, but believes there needs to be changes within the ranks of fbi agents. and i think it gives you a window into sort of where the president s thinking is on this. he s now nearly a year into this white house, but still believes there are entire arms of government or at least parts of these government institutions that are dedicated to undermining him. all right, thank you very much, sara. and i want to go to jessica schneider also outfront in washington. on the claim itself, just the facts, the president obviously seems very clearly appears to be calling for the jailing of huma abedin because he says she, quote, put classified passwords into the hands of foreign agents. what are the facts her
believes he doesn t control his own government. and that, of course, sends a horrible signal, not just to americans but around the world. richard, when the president said this, he specifically called the deep state justice department, right? he called on them to act regarding huma abedin. i want to play more of what happened when the white house press secretary sarah sanders was asked to explain about the deep state allegation today. here she is. does this administration believe that the deep state is a real thing, that there is this shadow government out there actively plotting to sabotage him? look, the president finds some of those actions very disturbing. and he thinks that we need to make sure if there is an issue that it s looked at, but if there was anything beyond that, i would refer you to the department of justice that would look into it. does he believe the entire justice department and its more than 100,000 employees are part of this deep state? obviously, he does
destabilizing charge and it comes as the president appears to call for hik s top aide, huma abedin, to go to jail. it happened as of course it usually does, via tweet. today, here s what the president wrote. crooked hillary clinton s top aide huma abedin has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. she put classified passwords into the hands of foreign agents. remember sailors pictures on submarines? jail. finally, the white house press secretary defended her boss obvious disregard for due process in that tweet. is the president requesting that the department of justice investigate huma abedin, and how did he reach his conclusion that she should be in jail given that she hasn t been indicted or convicted of any crime? look, obviously, the facts of that case are very disturbing.