Speaking for Myself

by Sarah Huckabee Sanders

  The fog at Yongsan hadn’t cleared, but had actually gotten worse. We canceled the trip to the DMZ so the president could make it back in time for his address to the South Korean national assembly. In the packed hall, the president delivered a warning to North Korea: “Today, I hope I speak not only for our countries, but for all civilized nations, when I say to the North: Do not underestimate us, and do not try us. We will defend our common security, our shared prosperity, and our sacred liberty.” The national assembly roared with applause and gave President Trump a standing ovation.

  The next day we departed South Korea for China. On Air Force One, General Kelly told me a story about a trip he had made years earlier to the Forbidden City. I told him I’d never been, but hoped to go if we ended up with any downtime. He told me I should be in the delegation to the Forbidden City with the president and offered me his spot. Since becoming chief of staff, General Kelly had brought order and discipline to the White House at a time when we desperately needed it. He implemented processes and got rid of some of the bad actors on staff. His tough military approach served the president and administration well in his early days as chief, but his unwillingness to compromise and pick his battles later became a problem. He never could wrap his head around the president’s family at the White House and the direct line they had to the president. It frustrated him and didn’t fit his chain-of-command leadership style. Having grown up in a political family, I warned Kelly that in a fight between family and staff, family always wins. Kelly loved his country and served it admirably in the military for many decades. When General Kelly spoke about his son Robert who was killed in action in Afghanistan it brought tears to my eyes and a thankfulness to my heart. His family had made the ultimate sacrifice, but continued to serve. When controversy hit the White House over a call the president made to a military family to offer condolences on behalf of the country, it was Kelly who came to me and said he wanted to take the podium in the White House press briefing room. Kelly was not only a general who had sent men and women into battle who never came home but also a Gold Star father. He gave an emotional account about learning about the death of his son, who took his last breath surrounded by the “best men on Earth.” Kelly explained in graphic detail the process by which a family member is notified and the body is returned to the family. It was heart-wrenching.

  We touched down at Beijing’s airport and were greeted by a Chinese military entourage alongside a crowd of kids wildly jumping up and down waving American and Chinese flags. General Kelly manifested me to be part of the US delegation at the last minute in his place and we drove straight from the airport to the Forbidden City, which normally had thousands of people in it but was closed for our visit. Our delegation included the president, the first lady, Secretary of State Tillerson, National Security Advisor McMaster, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Ambassador to China and former governor of Iowa Terry Branstad, Jared Kushner, and me. We had the entire place to ourselves. The Forbidden City, spanning 180 acres, is a majestic site including nearly a thousand historic buildings in the heart of Beijing. Its Imperial Palace was formerly the home to emperors and their families for more than five centuries. You could spend many days there and not see it all. We did part of the tour via golf cart to cover more ground. I was seated next to Ambassador Lighthizer, and this was the first time we really got to know each other. He was wearing a sweater and a blazer and was nice enough to loan me his jacket. This gesture was one that I often thought of when the president described Lighthizer as a killer. I soon got a chance to witness for myself what the president was talking about. The mild-mannered Midwesterner who offered me his jacket was a brilliant, no-nonsense negotiator unafraid to take on the Chinese or anybody else. Robert became a friend. I loved working alongside him and learning the art of a ruthless negotiator. It was no wonder he and the president got along so well!

  This was the first time an American president had received a private tour of the Forbidden City, and President Xi put on quite the show. We toured areas normally closed to the public, had tea in the Hall of Three Rare Treasures, and were ushered into an ancient two-thousand-year-old theater where we sat on blankets to watch an opera. Afterward, President Trump and the first lady had a private dinner with President Xi and his wife in the Forbidden City—another first for an American president—while the rest of our delegation met with our counterparts in the Chinese delegation to discuss North Korea and trade.

  While China clearly wanted to impress the president—our amazing visit to the Forbidden City was followed the next day by a spectacular show featuring hundreds of performers doing stunts and acrobatics in unison to the music of Michael Jackson—it didn’t deter the president from going after what he came for. President Trump was firm and resolute on both trade and North Korea in his discussions with Xi. The president hit on the major trade imbalance with China, but careful not to offend his hosts, put some of the blame on past US administrations for letting China take advantage of the United States. He called on China and Xi in particular to do more on North Korea. I took it all in knowing that America’s competition with China for global leadership would be a defining struggle of the twenty-first century.

  Upon our return from Asia, North Korea again fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, its first since September. The president called a meeting at the White House with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (their Democratic counterparts Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Nancy Pelosi refused to attend). General Mattis said North Korea was now nearing a capability to carry out a nuclear strike anywhere in the United States.

  On my first day back in the White House for the New Year, I did a press briefing, and Ivanka invited my family to join hers at the Monster Jam coming to the Verizon Arena in Washington. The president told Hope and me in the Oval he wanted the classic Guns N’ Roses song “November Rain” added to his rally playlist. He told us it was the “greatest music video of all time,” and made us watch it to prove his point even though neither of us had disagreed. At home after work, while I was watching the season premiere of The Bachelor, I was alerted to a tweet from the president: “North Korean leader Kim Jong-un just stated that the ‘Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.’ Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”

  The president used his first State of the Union address to again hammer North Korea. He told the story of Mr. Ji Seong-ho:

  In 1996, Seong-ho was a starving boy in North Korea. One day, he tried to steal coal from a railroad car to barter for a few scraps of food. In the process, he passed out on the train tracks, exhausted from hunger. He woke up as a train ran over his limbs. He then endured multiple amputations without anything to dull the pain. His brother and sister gave what little food they had to help him recover and ate dirt themselves—permanently stunting their own growth. Later, he was tortured by North Korean authorities after returning from a brief visit to China. His tormentors wanted to know if he had met any Christians. He had—and he resolved to be free.

  Seong-ho traveled thousands of miles on crutches across China and Southeast Asia to freedom. Most of his family followed. His father was caught trying to escape, and was tortured to death.

  Today he lives in Seoul, where he rescues other defectors, and broadcasts into North Korea what the regime fears the most—the truth.

  Today he has a new leg, but Seong-ho, I understand you still keep those crutches as a reminder of how far you have come. Your great sacrifice is an inspiration to us all.

  Seong-ho’s story is a testament to the yearning of every human soul to live in freedom.

  Seong-ho raised his crutch high in the air as everyone in the House Chamber for the State of the Union burst into applause. As I stood in the House Chamber, I felt chills go down my spine. It was the most powerful moment of the night.

  The following mor
ning, I departed for the Winter Olympics in South Korea as a member of the official American delegation led by Ivanka Trump. I had dreamed of going to the Olympics since I was a kid. I love America and I love sports—so really what could be better? When Ivanka invited me to be part of the US delegation, at first I thought she must be kidding, but she told me it was already done and I had been cleared to go. I couldn’t have been more excited. I knew this trip was more than just the Olympics—the escalating conflict with North Korea would play a major role in the trip. The team from the White House included Ivanka, her chief of staff, Julie Radford, a fellow mom to three young kids and close confidante; senior advisor to General McMaster and the NSC staff Sarah Flaherty; and NSC Korean specialist Allison Hooker. The incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Jim Risch (R-ID) also joined our delegation. We spent weeks prepping for the trip—mapping out logistics, attending security briefings, developing a communications plan, and going through a variety of scenarios that could play out.

  On our way over to South Korea we spent the first couple hours visiting, but shortly into our flight while Julie, Sarah, and I chatted, Ivanka peeled off to study her briefing book. She took her responsibility as the leader of the delegation seriously and knew she had a big job to do. This wasn’t just a trip to support our athletes, it was also a trip to reaffirm our commitment to our ally South Korea and to stand strong against North Korea.

  Vice President Mike Pence had led the US delegation for the opening ceremony and there had been a mixed response to his trip. The vice president planned to meet briefly with the North Korean delegation, led by Kim Jong-un’s younger sister, but the North Koreans canceled just hours before they were scheduled to sit down. The vice president was attacked for not standing for the joint Korea Olympic team but his critics missed the point. The vice president’s trip had been planned to send one message: The United States would maintain its maximum pressure campaign and not allow North Korea to use the Olympics as a propaganda show—and he executed it well.

  As our delegation landed in South Korea, the administration announced the toughest sanctions ever against North Korea. We knew our job had just gotten more difficult. From the moment we stepped off the plane Ivanka was a superstar in South Korea. There were dozens of cameras waiting at the airport exit to catch a glimpse of her. Sadly for the rest of our delegation, it was hard to look presentable next to Ivanka.

  Our first stop was all business. Ivanka, and the other members of the delegation, including Senator Risch; General Vincent Brooks, the commander of United States Forces Korea; Mark Knapper, the Chargé d’Affaires for South Korea; and I had a small private dinner at the Blue House with President Moon, his wife, and Kang Kyung-wha, the South Korean foreign minister. Ivanka carried a letter from her father to deliver to President Moon. I had gotten to know Ivanka pretty well over the last year of working in the administration, but this was one of the first times we spent an extended amount of time together in this type of setting. I was used to being in the room when her father was the principal. She of course weighed in and contributed in those meetings, but tonight was different because she was the principal and expected to carry the water not just for her father, but for the country. Her hard work paid off. She was engaging and knew personal details about our dinner hosts that kept the conversation moving and interesting. She managed to find common interests to discuss, even getting the South Korean first lady to open up and throw her head back in laughter at one point. It was impressive. We took official photos in front of the Blue House with the South Korean president and first lady, said our good-byes, and concluded our first day.

  The next day we watched Team USA men compete in snowboarding, bobsledding, and curling. The South Korean first lady as well as Olympic gold medalist Angela Ruggiero joined our group, and as we cheered on Team USA there were photographers all around us. The British tabloid the Daily Mail captured several shots and did a photo montage and story about our trip, but mainly just attacked me. The headline read: “Out in the Cold in Pyeongchang? Sarah Huckabee Sanders Cuts a Downbeat Figure at the Snowboarding Final as She’s Snubbed by South Korea at ‘Slipper-Gate’ Dinner.” The headline was as absurd as the story itself. I didn’t care for the Daily Mail ’s false account of being “snubbed” at the dinner because I had on a regular pair of slippers instead of the gold embroidered ones Ivanka wore, but I was most insulted by their ridiculous claim that I had been distracted at the snowboarding final rifling through a bag of chips, when in fact I was opening a pair of hand warmers that the South Korean first lady had given me to endure the freezing cold! If I ever need to humble myself a bit, all I have to do is visualize that Daily Mail image from Pyeongchang of Ivanka looking like a supermodel in her one-piece snowsuit while I appear to be wrestling with a bag of Doritos next to her.

  The Daily Mail story notwithstanding, we had a blast cheering on our Olympians. I never thought I could get so excited about curling, but the atmosphere was electric and the crowd, including our delegation, went crazy when Team USA defeated Sweden 10–7 to win the gold.

  Our time at the games closed hanging out and taking photos with the internationally acclaimed K-pop group EXO, who had performed at the ceremonies. Ivanka knew that Sarah Flaherty’s stepdaughter loved K-pop and arranged for her to meet the group. It was quite the contrast: one minute we had been discussing how to engage with one of the world’s most evil regimes and the next we were snapping pics with a Korean boy band.

  Just hours before the closing ceremony began, South Korean president Moon met with North Korean general Kim Yong-chol. Moon had announced following their meeting that the North Koreans were open to talks with the United States. This announcement came just three days after President Trump issued the largest sanctions ever against North Korea. Near the conclusion of the Winter Olympics from South Korea I announced:

  President Donald J. Trump’s Administration is committed to achieving the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The United States, our Olympic Host the Republic of Korea, and the international community broadly agree that denuclearization must be the result of any dialogue with North Korea. The maximum pressure campaign must continue until North Korea denuclearizes.

  Weeks later I was in a meeting with the vice president’s communications team and Natalie Strom from the press office ran into the room and said, “The president is walking into the briefing room.” I quickly made my way down the hall to find the president standing at the briefing room door telling reporters there will be a major announcement tonight on North Korea. He left them hanging and then turned and said, “Follow me.” We walked along the iconic colonnade by the Rose Garden where he told me about his meeting with the South Korean delegation. He had not been scheduled to attend, but when he heard the meeting was taking place he interrupted it to ask for an update from the South Korean delegation and his national security team. The South Korean national security advisor told President Trump that North Korea was open to direct talks with him on denuclearization and they’d be willing to suspend nuclear and missile tests. The president agreed on the spot and said he’d like for the South Korean delegation to announce it from the White House right away. The president left the meeting and went directly into the press briefing room to let reporters know an announcement was coming.

  President Trump asked me to introduce the South Korean delegation from the briefing room but I recommended having South Korean national security advisor Chung Eui-yong do it from the “sticks” in the driveway outside the West Wing, which is where guests visiting the White House usually addressed the media. After talking further with the president, I then briefed the US and South Korean teams on the plan and at 7:00 p.m. EDT South Korean national security advisor Chung Eui-yong walked out of the West Wing to make the announcement.

  The next week the president fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson while Tillerson was in Africa. The president called me into the Oval Office and told me he planned to appoin
t CIA director Mike Pompeo as secretary of state and elevate CIA deputy director Gina Haspel to lead the CIA. I was one of the few people in the White House who knew about the president’s decision and had to quickly develop a plan to announce it. For months the president had asked what he should do about Tillerson, and I had strongly agreed with him that Pompeo was a good fit for the job. The president loved to tease me about Pompeo being my “favorite,” and I was thrilled with his decision to make him our nation’s top diplomat. CIA director Pompeo had a good relationship with the president, senior administration officials, and members of Congress. He had a wealth of knowledge from his time in the military, Congress, and as director of the CIA, and immediately built a team atmosphere and sense of cooperation that had been missing from the State Department. Pompeo brought a swagger to the job, and most importantly, the president trusted him.

  * * *

  Gina Haspel, a thirty-year veteran of the CIA, was also a strong pick to lead our nation’s top spy agency. Gina faced a tough Senate confirmation battle and the White House counsel’s office, led by Don McGahn, worried she couldn’t get through confirmation because of operational work she’d done at the agency. At one difficult point in the process, Gina told Pompeo she planned to withdraw as the president’s nominee because she didn’t want the focus on the controversy to hurt the reputation of the CIA. Marc Short, the White House legislative affairs director, and I had read everything in her file and firmly disagreed with McGahn’s assessment. We were on the phone with Pompeo and explained why it was a bad idea for her to withdraw. There was nothing in her file we couldn’t vigorously defend. He said we should make that case to Gina directly, and to meet him at CIA headquarters immediately. I canceled my date with my husband to a cocktail party at Deputy White House Chief of Staff Chris Liddell’s house at the moment our babysitter was walking in the door. “I’m not going to be able to come,” I said. “I can’t answer any questions or tell you why. I won’t be at the office and I won’t have my phone. I’m really sorry.”