Sarah Sanders: God ‘wanted Donald Trump to become president’

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday that God “wanted Donald Trump to become president.”

Sanders spoke with David Brody and Jennifer Wishon of the Christian Broadcasting Network. Brody during the interview asked the press secretary for a “spiritual perspective” on Trump’s presidency.

“I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times and I think that he wanted Donald Trump to become president,” Sanders said. “And that’s why he’s there, and I think he has done a tremendous job in supporting a lot of the things that people of faith really care about.”

{mosads}Trump has often courted the support of evangelical leaders, and many high-profile evangelicals have defended him despite criticism regarding his rhetoric on immigration, race and other subjects.

Sanders was asked Wednesday about a pair of religion-based issues, including allegations from conservatives that freshmen Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (Minn.) harbor anti-Semitic views.

The two representatives have drawn criticism for their support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, which is critical of the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians.

Sanders called the lawmakers’ comments “outrageous,” and slammed Democratic leaders for failing to promptly condemn the remarks.

CBN also asked Sanders about the plight of Christians in Syria given Trump’s plans to withdraw U.S. forces from the country.

“Look, the president’s made clear that we support Christians, that we support the Kurds,” Sanders said. “He’s made that clear to Turkey, he’s made that clear publicly on a number of fronts, and just one of the reasons that the president has been tough on Iran is to make sure that people don’t feel threatened.

“We’re still going to have a presence in the region but as much as we can continue to totally and completely destroy ISIS, the president wants our troops out of Syria and he wants to be able to bring more of them back home,” she added.

Trump announced in December plans to withdraw U.S. troops from war-torn Syria. The move raised concerns among lawmakers and international partners who warned that an abrupt pullout could destabilize the region and embolden the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Administration officials have since placed conditions on a full U.S. withdrawal, stating that the U.S. would not fully leave the country without the total defeat of ISIS and assurances from Turkey that it will not target U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria.