Sarah Huckabee
© Carolyn Kaster / AP / Shutterstock
Washington - As he prepared to testify to Congress on Wednesday, the former Trump lawyer Michael D. Cohen received a thorough scolding from the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who warned Cohen to "leave lying to the professionals."

"You probably think you can step up to the microphone and lie like it's the easiest thing in the world," she said. "Well, you should try doing it each and every day, and then tell me how easy it is."

Sanders drew a sharp distinction between professional liars who take pride in their work and liars like Cohen, whom she called "strictly amateur."

"Michael Cohen has never demonstrated that he is willing to put in the hard work, practice, and sheer drudgery of becoming a great liar," she said. "This is definitely one of those ten-thousand-hours things."

She said she hoped if American children watch Cohen's "pathetic performance" before Congress that they do not get the wrong idea about America's liars. "Kids need to know that there are many well-trained and highly professional liars in this country, and many of them are right here in the White House," she said.