FACT CHECK: Did Sarah Huckabee Sanders Say If America Is Invaded, ‘Democrats Will Join The Enemy’?

A post shared on Facebook claims former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Democrats would “join the enemy” in the event of an invasion of America.

Verdict: False

There is no record of Sanders saying this quote. The quote appears to have been shared by a Twitter account unaffiliated with Sanders.

Fact Check:

Sanders is currently running as a Republican candidate for governor in Arkansas, according to NBC News. Now, social media users are claiming she said, “On (sic) thing the pandemic has taught is that if America is every (sic) attacked by actual invaders, the Democrats will join the enemy.”

There is no record, however, of Sanders saying the statement attributed to her in the Facebook post. Check Your Fact searched Sanders’ verified Twitter and Facebook accounts, but found no instances of the statement. A search of Sanders’ campaign website likewise turned up no results for the quote.

A review of Sanders’ announcement of her candidacy for governor in January shows she didn’t make the comment then, either. Had Sanders made the statement, media outlets likely would have reported on it, yet none have. (RELATED: Does This Image Show Indian Politicians Not Wearing Masks During The COVID-19 Pandemic?)

The quote may stem from a tweet sent by the now-suspended Twitter account @hucklebee_sarah, which appears to be unaffiliated with Sanders. Screen grabs of the tweet have been shared on Facebook and show it contained a nearly identical quote to the one being attributed to Sanders. A November 2020 archived screen grab of the Twitter account shows the bio section included the Disclaimer: “I’m not who you think I am.”

This is not the first time misinformation about Sanders has stemmed from the @hucklebee_sarah Twitter account. In June 2020, Check Your Fact debunked the baseless claim that Sanders tweeted, “It’s ‘odd’ that the ANTIFA insurgency happened just as COVID-19 loses steam.”