Sarah Huckabee Sanders, running for governor of Arkansas, has been silent for the nearly 24 hours since videos of three law enforcement officers in that state allegedly beating a suspect, including smashing his head against a concrete sidewalk, went viral. Just two copies of the video have received over 15 million views combined.
Sanders, the former Trump White House press secretary who was usually prepared with a comment for nearly every issue, is the daughter of former Arkansas GOP governor Mike Huckabee, and is running to sit at the same desk her father did for more than a decade.
The videos by all accounts are horrific – so horrific Twitter has placed a caution over them when being viewed outside of the platform.
The state’s current Republican governor issued a terse response to the news Sunday evening.
“I have spoken with Col. Bill Bryant of the Arkansas State Police and the local arrest incident in Crawford County will be investigated pursuant to the video evidence and the request of the prosecuting attorney,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is not running for re-election due to term limits, said via Twitter.
Huckabee’s Democratic opponent, Dr. Chris Jones, issued a respectful and sincere response to the video.
“A violent confrontation happened today in Mulberry, Arkansas, and it was caught on video for the world to see. Like so many, I am deeply disturbed by this unfolding story,” Jones said.
“The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office did the right thing by immediately requesting a State Police investigation and suspending the officers pending the outcome,” he added. “Arkansans want swift and appropriate accountability, and we need to see changes to ensure this does not happen again. We must break the cycle. We are better than this.”
Trump-endorsed Huckabee Sanders, whose job it once was to offer responses to any sort of breaking news across the country or around the world, has said nothing.
That’s par for the course for Huckabee Sanders, who refused to debate her GOP primary opponent, Doc Washburn, a fact that was buried by the national media and even much of the local Arkansas press. Even NPR in Little Rock toward the end of an article in April just casually mentioned that she and a Democratic candidate were both “no-shows” at the debate.
READ MORE: Sarah Huckabee Sanders Says the Solution to Mass Shootings Is to Stop Kicking Her Out of Restaurants
Just ten days ago the Arkansas Times’ Max Brantley reported Huckabee Sanders has agreed to one debate, in October, where she says she looks “forward to speaking with Arkansans in every corner of the state.”
“Jones,” her Democratic opponent, “has been busy sending questions to Sanders without response,” Brantley writes.
“And her public speaking appearances have generally been at closed or spectator-controlled events. She hasn’t had a serious interview with a reporter yet.”
Last month Brantley, who calls Huckabee Sanders the “covert candidate for governor,” and “evasive,” said point-blank: “Sanders avoids contact with the media,” in a. piece titled, “Sarah Huckabee Sanders gives interview! Won’t talk specifics. But the party platform has plenty of them.”
NCRM has reached out to the campaign for comment but did not receive an immediate response.