Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee discussed reports that his daughter, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, was receiving secret service protection.
In an interview Wednesday on Fox Business Network’s Mornings with Maria, Huckabee attributed the need for the extra security to vitriolic attacks against members of the Trump administration, blasting a lack of accountability for such attacks.
He singled out actor Peter Fonda, who recently tweeted that “Maybe we should take [Sanders’] children away and deport her to Arkansas.”
In another tweet directed against President Trump’s family, Fonda tweeted that “We should rip [Trump’s son] Barron Trump from his mother’s arms and put him in a cage with pedophiles.”
Huckabee emphasized that such comments crossed the boundary of acceptable political discussion.
"Peter Fonda tweeted out to millions of people that someone ought to break into [Sanders'] house and kidnap her children. That’s not politics, that’s crime. Peter Fonda needs to be in jail,” he said.
Huckabee lamented a lack of deterrence against such attacks, asserting that stricter measures must be taken to encourage accountability.
“Until we start holding people accountable, until people like Peter Fonda are frog marched across the courthouse lawn and he gets the perp walk and everybody gets to see this is what happens when you encourage people to go and do violent things to someone’s family. Until that happens, it’s going to continue because there’s no accountability for this nonsense. None.”
Reports of the secret service protection for Sanders came after she was asked last Friday to leave Virginia restaurant "Red Hen” over her position in the Trump administration.
"Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left,” Sanders tweeted following the incident.
"Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so."