Sarah Sanders won't echo Trump's latest media attack to reporters' faces

After she was directly asked about Trump’s latest media attack — insisting that all negative coverage of him is “fake news” — White House press secretary Sarah Sanders would not back up her boss.

Earlier in the week, Trump whined on Twitter that “91% of the Network News about me is negative (Fake),” and used that lie to suggest he would rescind press credentials for news outlets.

Even for Trump, redefining any negative coverage as “fake news” was below his already low standards.

During the daily press briefing, Yahoo!’s Hunter Walker asked Sanders, “Do you have the view that all negative stories are fake?”

Sanders curtly answered “no,” and refused to answer when Walker followed up by asking why Trump said such a thing.

Sanders was recently caught in an embarrassing moment where she had to admit that Trump lied, as the revelations emerged that he paid off porn star mistress Stormy Daniels after flatly denying the story.

Maybe Sanders is feeling more cautious with her connection to Trump.

The outright denial was certainly a departure for her. In the past, Sanders has embraced Trump’s attacks on the press and launched several over her own.

In January, for example, Sanders viciously attacked a reporter who asked her to explain a series of Trump tweets that contradicted each other.

Instead of addressing the disparity, Sanders snapped at the reporter.

“I think that the premise of your question is completely ridiculous and shows the lack of knowledge that you have on this process,” she said. Pressed further to explain Trump’s apparent contradictions, she sneered at the reporter, “It wasn’t confusing to me. I’m sorry if it was for you.”

Last month, when a reporter asked about the chaos surrounding the Trump administration and his haphazard (at best) decision-making process, Sanders told a reporter that the question was simply proof of “people that don’t understand I guess how civics works.”

Last year, after then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reportedly called Trump a “moron,” Trump said he should take an IQ test to prove he was smarter. Sanders was asked about the incident, and claimed Trump “simply made a joke.”

“Maybe you guys should get a sense of humor and try it sometime,” she told reporters.

Based on her track record, disagreeing with Trump’s childish attack on the press is a temporary blip as she continues to shill for him.

But refusing to parrot his taunt as the press directly asked her about it echoes his history of cowardice as well.