Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders subbed for Sean Spicer at Wednesday’s White House press briefing, and in the aftermath of FBI Director James Comey’s dismissal, that personnel move was naturally a hot topic. One answer of Spicer’s surrogate got particular attention, thanks in large part to her choice of words.

Having been asked why President Donald Trump has had a change of heart with regard to Comey, Sanders gave the following answer, referring to how Comey handled the Hillary Clinton email investigation:

“Once you take over leading the Department of Justice, that’s very different from being a candidate in a campaign. […] I think also having a letter like the one that he received and having that conversation that outlined the basic, just, atrocities in circumventing the chain of command in the Department of Justice.”

The use of “atrocities” stood out, as it’s normally used in reference to things like war crimes, not government spats such as Comey’s actions surrounding to the Hillary Clinton email case.

That said, Sanders added that “Any person of legal mind and authority knows what a big deal that is,” resulting in Trump’s making the call to fire Comey.