During a Tuesday interview with Jimmy Kimmel, former press secretary Sean Spicer confessed that loyalty might be President Donald Trump’s greatest prize, but it isn’t something he puts first.
Kimmel noted that Spicer’s new book talks about loyalty and the way the president considers it critical to all of his relationships. It prompted Kimmel to ask Spicer which is more important, “loyalty or the truth.”
“I don’t think it’s a binary choice,” Spicer dodged. “I think you can tell the person you work for if there’s a problem with what they’re saying and that you give them the best advice and counsel that you can. But I don’t think it’s a binary choice, that you have to choose one or the other.”
“Right, but I’m asking you,” Kimmel came back with.
Spicer ultimately confessed that a person must “always go out and maintain your credibility and the truth, yes. So, that would take precedence over the first one, yes.”
Kimmel asked if Spicer always maintained his credibility and he said that he did and he was always honest. He said that he has been criticized for not doing so throughout his six months in the White House. However, he said that it was his job to give the message of the White House.
Spicer also noted that the president still calls him to ask for advice. He never calls the president, however, he waits to be called, he explained. The first call came when he appeared on Kimmel and the president called the following day.
“I thought, ‘Oh, God, what did I do,'” Spicer confessed.
But the call proved to be friendly, congratulating him on doing well on the show. Despite getting an endorsement for his book, Kimmel said there’s no way that the president read the book before the tweet. However, Spicer said that he kept the president abreast of his progress while writing the book.
Watch a short clip of the interview below:
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