Trump: I think Sarah Huckabee Sanders should have walked out of correspondents’ dinner

President Trump said Friday that he thinks press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders should have “walked out” of the White House correspondents’ dinner.

Trump made the comments live on “Fox & Friends” during an impromptu interview on the White House lawn. He criticized the media’s attitude toward Sanders, and said she should have left the dinner during a set by comedian Michelle Wolf that harshly criticized her while she was sitting nearby.

“They treat her very badly,” Trump said of the press.

“What they did to Sarah at the White House correspondents’ dinner … the only difference I would’ve done, I would’ve walked out,” he said.

“I thought she should have walked out, instead of sitting there,” he added, saying that she “took the high road.”

He also pushed back on a recent report that said Sanders was preparing to leave the administration. Sanders herself did not deny the report, but responded that she loves her job.

President @realDonaldTrump: “What they did to @PressSec at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner… I would’ve walked out.” pic.twitter.com/NUcJLuRoqp

— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 15, 2018

Wolf was widely criticized for her speech at the dinner, which took aim at the Trump administration, and in particular, Sanders. Some of her most controversial jokes at the April dinner included comparing Sanders to Aunt Lydia from “The Handmaid’s Tale” and saying the press secretary “burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smokey eye.”

{mosads}Republicans and some journalists panned the performance, and the White House Correspondents’ Association issued a statement saying that the set was “not in the spirit” of the organization’s mission.

Comedians and others came to Wolf’s defense, saying she did the job she was hired to do.