In her new book, former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Donald Trump joked that she’d have to “take one for the team” and move to North Korea after Kim Jong-un winked at her in 2018.
According to Sanders’ new book, which was obtained in advance of general release by the Guardian , she recalls a summit in Singapore between Trump and the North Korean leader. While the two leaders spoke, Sanders says, she noticed that Kim was staring at her.
“We made direct eye contact and Kim nodded and appeared to wink at me. I was stunned. I quickly looked down and continued taking notes,” she writes. “All I could think was, ‘What just happened? Surely Kim Jong-un did not just mark me!?’”
Kim Jong-un hit on you!
Sanders also mentions that Kim ‘reluctantly’ took a breath mint from Trump, who blew into the air to convince the North Korean leader that it wasn’t poisoned.
On their way to the airport after the meeting, Sanders told Trump about the wink.
“Kim Jong-un hit on you!” Trump said. “He did! He fucking hit on you!”
Sanders asked him to stop and said it wasn’t what she meant.
Joking alongside then-chief-of-staff John Kelly, Trump continued to press Sanders.
You’re going to North Korea and taking one for the team!
“Well, Sarah, that settles it,” she writes. “You’re going to North Korea and taking one for the team! Your husband and kids will miss you, but you’ll be a hero to your country!”
In her book, Sanders, the daughter of U.S. politician and presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, wrote about Trump’s meetings with Kim and his — still unsuccessful — attempts to convince North Korea to demilitarize.
Sanders resigned from her post as press secretary in June 2019 and said she would continue to be a vocal Trump supporter. Her book, Speaking for Myself, is scheduled for release on September 8, 2020.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
