Sarah Huckabee Sanders to address Biden's State of the Union speech

The White House press secretary turned Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders will give the Republican response to Joe Biden's State of the Union address next week.

Announcing the move on Thursday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called Huckabee Sanders a servant-leader of true determination and conviction and said he m thrilled Sarah will share her extraordinary story and bold vision for a better America on Tuesday. Huckabee Sanders, now 40, was the second of Donald Trump's four press secretaries in an administration under which relations between the press and the White House dwindled to new lows.

Sanders admitted to lying to reporters about internal opposition to FBI director James Comey during the investigation of Russian election interference in 2016 and links between the former president and Moscow.

She told the New York Times that it bothers me to be called a liar because one of the few things you have are your integrity and reputation There is a difference between misspeaking or not knowing something and maliciously lying.

After her father Mike Huckabee entered the governor's mansion last November, Huckabee Sanders was elected in Arkansas. She began her time in power with a flurry of executive orders on culture war subjects.

One banned the use of Latinx in state documents, which a proponent has defined as a gender-neutral term to describe US residents of Latin American descent. Another order bans the teaching of critical race theory in public schools. Critical race theory is an academic discipline that examines the ways in which racism operates in US laws and society. It is rarely taught below college level, but Republicans have used it enthusiastically and successfully as a wedge electoral issue.

In a statement on Thursday from Huckabee Sanders, Huckabee Sanders said she was grateful for the opportunity to address the nation and contrast the GOP vision for the future against the failures of President Biden and the Democrats.

Some observers think that Huckabee Sanders may run for president in the future, if she follows her father and the Democratic former Arkansas governor Bill Clinton.

In 2008 and 2016, Huckabee, an evangelical Christian, bass guitarist and pitchman for questionable health products, did so. In his first run he won the Iowa caucuses as part of an unexpectedly strong showing before losing to John McCain. In 2016 he was one of many candidates who were blown out of the water by Trump.

Clinton was president for two terms beginning in 1993.

The Republicans also announced on Thursday that a second rebuttal to Biden's speech will be given by Arizona Congressman Juan Ciscomani, who will speak in Spanish.