Karoline Leavitt was very active on Tuesday, first putting down an Associated Press reporter and then calling out a woman for her facial expression during a White House press briefing.
Her approach at the White House press corps mirrors the confrontational style she used as the former Trump campaign national press secretary, where she directly challenges mainstream media for their misrepresentation of the president.
In an odd moment after answering a question about Trump’s tariff war against Canada, she addressed a different reporter in the room.
‘To the woman in the purple because I saw you were making a face at my previous answer,’ she said.
‘Oh, did I?’ replied the unidentified reporter, sparking laughter in the press room, as she mentioned having a ‘couple of questions’ after Leavitt questioned her behavior.
She then went into her question which dealt with the Trump administration’s no tolerance policy for what they deem ‘pro-Hamas’ demonstrations at American universities.
‘At the core, the pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses and elsewhere is a demand to end the war in Gaza and is a goal that this administration actually supports and pursued,’ she noted.
The Trump administration has indeed worked toward a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The reporter continued: ‘So why has this not been acknowledged or highlighted?’
‘Because these colleges and these protests have put out Hamas propaganda,’ Leavitt responded.
She said that the protesters are supporting a designated foreign terrorist organization, citing the detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist studying at Columbia University on a green card.
Before the reported could ask her second question, Leavitt moved on to another reporter.
The exchange came on what turned out to be a particularly spicy day in the briefing room.
Elsewhere, an Associated Press reporter taxed White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s patience when he asked her Tuesday if she had ever paid a tariff.
The clash came amid tanking stock market and a battle with the outlet over the ‘Gulf of America’.
It happened when Leavitt called on the reporter from the AP – an outlet the White House has banned from ‘pooled’ Oval Office visits and Air Force One trips amid fury over the wire service’s refusal to adopt Trump’s renaming of the Gulf.
By the time it ended, an ‘insulted’ Leavitt said she regretted calling on the reporter in the first place.
The reporter, Josh Boak, was among several who pressed Leavitt on the plummeting stock market, amid massive uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs – on a day the president said he would double levies on steel and aluminum and Ontario imposed and then suspended a tariff on energy it sends to the U.S.
He asked Leavitt about an upcoming Trump speech to the Business Roundtable.
‘He’s going there today as he’s proposing tax hikes in the form of tariffs. And I’m curious he’s not for why he’s prioritizing that over the tax cuts,’ the reporter asked, echoing business criticism that has crept into the discourse amid market jitters.
‘Not true – he’s not doing that,’ Leavitt interrupted the question.
‘Tariffs are a tax hike on foreign countries that, again, have been ripping us off. Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people, and the President is a staunch advocate of tax cuts,’ Leavitt, 27, told him.
‘I’m sorry. Have you ever paid a tariff? Because I have,’ the AP reporter tried to needle her. ‘They don’t get charged on foreign companies. They get charged on the importers.’
Leavitt started off her response by talking policy.
‘Ultimately, when we have fair and balanced trade, which the American people have not seen in decades. As I said at the beginning, revenues will stay here, wages will go up, and our country will be made wealthy again,’ said Leavitt.
Some economists have argued there could be downside risks, like higher inflation, slower growth, an escalating trade war, or even a recession.
‘And I think it’s insulting that you’re trying to test my knowledge of economics and the decisions that this President has made. I now regret giving a question to the Associated Press,’ she said.
Her deputy, Harrison Fields, chimed in that the reporter ‘equals activist NOT journalist,’ indicating that all is not forgiven.
