Sarah Sanders: Smollett hoax another ‘sad’ example of people wanting to ‘come after this president’

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Friday that the apparent hate crime hoax staged by actor Jussie Smollett is just the latest example of how far people will go to attack Trump.

“I think there were so many people … that quickly came out and attacked the president, blamed the president. And in fact, as we learned more, it certainly seems like the only person to blame in this case is Smollett,” Sanders told Fox News when asked to respond to Smollett’s effort to stage a hate crime against himself that he claimed was carried out by Trump supporters.

“It is another sad example of people so quick to want to attack and come after this president,” Sanders said. “Much like you saw with the Covington kids and certainly with this case as well. And the president is pushing back.”

Sanders was referencing the case where a high school student wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat was blamed for an altercation with a Native American protester in Washington, D.C., last month.

Chicago police said Thursday there is evidence to show that Smollett, an actor on the show “Empire,” sent a threatening letter to himself and then paid two brothers, one he knew from working on the show, to stage a hate crime when the letter did not receive enough attention.

Smollett, who is black and gay, filed a police report in January in which he claimed his two white attackers beat him, tied a rope around his neck, threw bleach at him, and yelled racists and homophobic slurs at him.

He also said one of them said, “This is MAGA country,” referencing Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.”

Trump responded after the Chicago Police Department press conference and said Smollett insulted hundreds of thousands of Americans by trying to place the blame on the president.

Shortly after the attack became public in January, some Democratic presidential candidates condemned the attack as a “modern day lynching.”