Calls statements 'heat of moment slips of tongue'

A White House that has often branded mainstream media as fake news, particularly in its reporting on the Mueller investigation into Russia election meddling, was apparently providing some fake, or at least misleading, comments on some real news.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told investigators for special counsel Robert Mueller that her statements about hearing from "countless members of the FBI" that they had lost confidence in then-FBI director James Comey was "a slip of the tongue" and that a separate statement to the press that rank and file FBI employees had lost confidence was made "in the heat of the moment"--rather than the light of accuracy--and "was not founded on anything."

That is according to the just-released Mueller report.

Sanders comments came by way of providing an alternative explanation of the President's firing of Comey, who was then leading the Russia investigation, that being an alternative to it being an attempt to obstruct the investigation.

The comments also came in response to a reporter's observation that the "vast majority" of FIB agents backed Comey.

The President had himself said that he had received "hundreds" of messages from FBI employees supporting his firing of Comey.