White House press secretary threatens to end briefing amid grilling over Trump's transgender ban

White House press secretary threatens to end briefing amid grilling over Trump's transgender ban

The White House on Wednesday refused to provide specifics on President Donald Trump's announced plans to bar transgender people from serving in the military "in any capacity," and its top representative eventually threatened to end a press briefing after repeated questions on the subject.

Asked what would happen to deployed transgender military personnel in theaters around the world, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said it was "something that the Department of Defense and the White House will have to work together on as implementation takes place." She added that the two entities would work to make the shift "lawfully."

"When the president made the decision yesterday, the secretary of defense was informed, as well as the rest of the military advisers," Sanders said.

She said Trump found that transgender people in the military were "expensive and disruptive" and that they "erode military readiness and unit cohesion."

Sanders stressed that Trump made the decision he felt was in the best interest of the military.

"This is a military decision," Sanders said. "It's not meant to be anything more than that."

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After a question about how the White House would address transgender service members who may now fear the consequences of gender-reassignment surgery, Sanders reiterated that the decision was based on military readiness "and nothing more."

As reporters began to push back, Sanders said, "If those are the only questions we have, I'm going to call it a day, but if we have questions on other topics, I'll be happy to take them."

Sanders ended the briefing shortly after, ahead of Trump's 3 p.m. remarks to the American Legion's Boys Nation and Auxiliary Girls Nation at the White House.

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