Liz Huston
Role at the time: White House spokeswoman, in a statement to news outlets including CNBC, ABC News and NBC News to news outlets including CNBC, ABC News and NBC News
Statement summary
In a statement to news outlets responding to questions about the Air Force One placard photograph, White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said Democrats let the Kennedy Center deteriorate for years, allowing water damage and crumbling infrastructure to turn it into a building in decay. She said that, as President Trump said the previous night, the center will continue to decline without his intervention.
“For years, Democrats let the Kennedy Center rot, allowing water damage and crumbling infrastructure to turn a national treasure into a building in decay. As President Trump said last night, without his intervention, The Kennedy Center will inevitably continue to decline.”
Why we used this label
Huston's statement attributes the building's condition to Democrats and describes the Sept. 16 remark as saying the center will continue to decline without Trump's intervention, which is the White House's reading of that remark and differs from readings that tie it to recognition; it does not mention recognition, the closure or the renovation and neither endorses nor criticizes conditioning them on recognition. The closest competing label is “Defended or excused”. That loses because the statement supports Trump's intervention as the remedy for decline but does not say that closing the center or conditioning its renovation on recognition is justified, and support for a remedy is not itself a defense of the conduct in question.