White House press secretary Sarah Sanders dismissed concerns that no congressional Democrats were invited to the state dinner where President Trump hosted French President Emmanuel Macron.
“There were Democrats present at the dinner and the focus of this dinner was to keep it intimate and small and that’s exactly what we did,” Sanders said Wednesday. “There was a wide range of individuals that participated and we think it was a great success and very proud of not just the dinner but the entire visit and certainly the relationship that we have with our great ally in France.”
Democrats criticized Trump and his administration for not inviting any members of Congress from their party to the dinner, which was the Trump administration’s first official state dinner.
Sanders said it wasn’t important to invite them to the ceremonial event because they can talk during business hours.
“Look, we talk to congressional Democrats all the time. We don’t have to have dinner with them to have conversation with them. We’ll continue to talk to them about policy-related issues,” she said.
“I think the fact that there were a number of Democrats that were present kind of negates the fact that it want a bipartisan dinner.”
