Karoline Leavitt’s brutal seven words for CNN’s Kaitlan Collins during dramatic clash
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shut down CNN‘s Kaitlan Collins while defending the use of Trump officials using Signal to communicate about a military strike.
Collins questioned Leavitt about whether the president felt ‘misled’ by his national security advisors who said that there was no classified information shared in the Signal chat.
‘I’ve now been asked and answered this question three times by the both of you, and I’ve given you my answer, the president feels the same today as he did yesterday,’ Leavitt responded.
Collins tried to ask a followup question, but was immediately shut down by Leavitt in seven words: ‘Kaitlin, I’m not taking your follow up.’
Collins repeated that she had a followup question, but Leavitt did not allow her to interrupt.
‘Kaitlin, I’m not taking your followup,’ she said again firmly before moving to RealClearPolitics reporter Philip Wegman.
Leavitt said that President Trump had reviewed the text messages sent in the chat, published by The Atlantic magazine after editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was mistakenly added to the chat.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt attends a press briefing at the White House
Kaitlan Collins, chief White House correspondent for CNN
She dismissed The Atlantic article as ‘word games’ and ‘sensational spin’ by an editor that she described as an ‘anti-Trump sensationalist reporter.’
‘Goldberg is an anti-Trump hater,’ she stated.
‘He is a registered Democrat. Goldberg’s wife is also a registered Democrat and a big Democrat donor who used to work under who Hillary Clinton,’ she added.
Leavitt grew frustrated as reporters continued to focus on the Signal chat fiasco, marking one of her toughest days yet on the job.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt arrives for a briefing
Reporters question White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt about the Signal controversy
‘I have now been asked and answered the same question using different language multiple times. If anybody has another question, there’s a lot of different things going on in the world,’ she said, previewing an announcement from the president later that day on tariffs.
Leavitt said that President Trump continued to have ‘great trust’ in his national security team, despite the ongoing controversy surrounding their use of the Signal app to communicate about a military strike against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
‘We are not going to be lectured about national security and American troops by democrats and the mainstream media who turned the other cheek when the Biden administration because of their incompetence left 13 service members dead in Afghanistan and not a single person in the previous administration was held accountable for that botched withdrawal,’ she said.
Leavitt ultimately cut the briefing short after 22 minutes, citing the need to wrap it up before Vice President JD Vance began speaking at a military base in Quantico, Virginia.
‘I would hate to counter program the Vice President of the United States,’ she said.
