Here's what Sarah Sanders just said about the Covington Catholic students visiting Trump

The White House has reportedly reached out with a statement of support for the high school students from Covington Catholic High School that were falsely accused of a racial attack on a Native American.

According to CNN White House Correspondent Abby Phillips, if the students accept the invitation to visit the White House, it will have to be after the partial government shutdown is over.

Phillips said the information came from White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

"Sarah Sanders says that WH has reached out to the Covington Catholic kids and invited them to the WH but any meeting would take place after the shutdown," Phillips tweeted.

Phillips later corrected her report and added, "Sanders described the outreach from the WH as voicing support for the kids."

The altercation between the teenagers attending the annual pro-life march in Washington D.C. and the elderly indigenous activist has sparked a firestorm of debate between critics of President Donald Trump and his supporters.

Initially many in the media believed that the students were ridiculing Nathan Phillips because of a short video that quickly went viral on social media. Subsequent videos of the event showed that Phillips had purposely confronted the students, and that they had been insulted and berated by other activists.

The president earlier signaled his personal support for the Catholic students from his social media account, including the teen who prominently figured in the videos of the event.

"Nick Sandmann and the students of Covington have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be," Trump tweeted.

"They have captivated the attention of the world," he added, "and I know they will use it for the good - maybe even to bring people together. It started off unpleasant, but can end in a dream!"

On Tuesday various media outlets corrected their stories after reporting incorrectly that Nathan Phillips was a Vietnam War veteran.

Here's the latest in the Covington altercation: