Smug CNN journalist HUMILIATED after gotcha question backfired
A tense exchange between press secretary Karoline Leavitt and CNN’s Kaitlan Collins unfolded at a recent White House press briefing — and BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales couldn’t be more impressed with the way Leavitt handled it.
“You have CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who started out at the Daily Caller, was hired by Tucker Carlson. She was writing for conservative media, and somewhere along the way, her brain melted,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales explains.
“So clearly, it is her life’s mission now to just make Donald Trump look bad,” she says.
“Is it the position of this administration that the press should not prominently cover the deaths of U.S. service members?” Collins asked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt at a recent press conference.
“No,” Leavitt answered. “It’s the position of this administration that the press in this room and the press across the country should accurately report on the success of Operation Epic Fury.”
“So we can all be very grateful that we have an administration and that we have men and women in our armed forces who are willing to sacrifice their own lives for the rest of us in this room and for every American across the country and for every troop that is based in the Middle East,” she added.
Collins then interjected that Pete Hegseth “was complaining that it was front-page news about these six service members who were killed.”
“That’s not what the secretary said, Kaitlin, and that’s not what the secretary meant. And you know it — you know you’re being disingenuous. We’ve never had a secretary of defense who cares more,” Leavitt responded.
Collins again interjected, reading Hegseth’s comment, which included that "the press only wants to make the president look bad.”
“The press does only want to make the president look bad. That’s a fact,” Leavitt said.
“We expect you to cover that as you should, Kaitlan. But you and your network know that you take every single thing this administration says and tries to use it to make the president look bad,” she added.
Collins continued to argue, but she was no match for Leavitt, who pointed out that “CNN’s overwhelming coverage” of President Donald Trump is “negative” and that the American people would agree with that.
“There’s no disputing that,” Gonzales comments. “The American people don’t want to hear from CNN, because we all know this is, of course, the agenda. This is the playbook. It’s the only playbook that they have.”
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Karoline Leavitt berates CNN's Kaitlan Collins over inflation and the economy
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had a fiery exchange with CNN journalist Kaitlan Collins over the president's recent comments admonishing Americans to buy fewer gifts this Christmas for their children.
Collins pressed Leavitt on whether President Donald Trump's comments contradicted his separate claim that the economy was recovering in his second term.
'Everything I'm telling you is the truth, backed by real, factual data, and you just don't want to report on it because you want to push untrue narratives about the president.'
"If the economy is as strong as the president has said it is, then why is he telling parents two weeks before Christmas that they should only buy two or three dolls for their children?" Collins asked.
"Look, what the president is saying is that if we want products made right here in America, if we want them to be made from American small businesses, which is a large part of the reason the president has effectively implemented tariffs, then we're going to have better quality products right here in the United States," Leavitt responded. "Maybe you'll pay a dollar or two more, but you will get better quality, and you'll be supporting your fellow Americans by buying American."
She went on to claim that every economic measure has gotten better under the Trump administration, and she cited inflation and gas prices.
"So, the best is yet to come. The president is digging our country out of the economic hole that the previous administration put us in, and that's what he's talking about," Leavitt said.
"We've covered the economy, but there's mixed signals in terms of what that looks like," Collins replied, adding that grocery prices have gone up during the Trump administration.
When Collins kept pressing Leavitt, the press secretary accused the reporter of a double standard and reminded her of the media's complicity with the messaging from the previous administration.
"My predecessor was standing at this podium, but now you want to ask me a lot of questions about it, which I'm happy to answer, but I will just add, there's a lot more scrutiny on this issue from this press corps," Leavitt said.
RELATED: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen admits Biden's spending worsened inflation
"My predecessor stood up at this podium, and she said inflation doesn't exist. She said the border was secure, and people like you just took her at her word, and those were two utter lies!" Leavitt continued. "Everything I'm telling you is the truth, backed by real, factual data, and you just don't want to report on it because you want to push untrue narratives on the president."
Video of the argument was posted to social media, where it was widely circulated and viewed.
Some polling has shown a loss of support for Trump's policies related to the economy as the pivotal midterm elections grow closer.
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CNN brutally fact-checks Jasmine Crockett for peddling debunked ballroom hoax
Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas made a claim so egregious about the ongoing East Wing renovations at the White House that even CNN had to fact-check the lawmaker.
Crockett was accusing President Donald Trump of neglecting Americans during the government shutdown, falsely claiming that the construction of the new East Wing ballroom was his "main priority." Crockett was quickly corrected by CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, who clarified the original context of press secretary Karoline Leavitt's response.
Crockett is not the only high-profile Democrat who has misled about the White House ballroom.
"I have no idea," Crockett said in response to Collins. "I mean, you started off talking about how the president is in Japan. The president has time to do everything but what he needs to focus on."
"In fact, we heard the press secretary say that his main priority is the ballroom," Crockett added. "The ballroom that no one asked for. The ballroom that requires him to destroy historic pieces of the White House."
Collins responded to Crockett's wildly out-of-context claim, noting that Leavitt was responding to a question about additional White House renovations and not about the president's general list of priorities.
"That context of the comment from Karoline Leavitt, she was asked if the president was working on any other renovations when it came to the White House, and she was saying his focus was the ballroom," Collins replied.
RELATED: 'These people are sick': Trump admin slams top Dem for justifying shutdown suffering
Crockett is not the only high-profile Democrat who has misled about the White House ballroom. Former vice presidential candidate and current Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) also echoed the claim that the ballroom is Trump's top priority, insinuating that the project is taxpayer-funded.
As Leavitt pointed out the week prior, Trump's ballroom is entirely funded by private donors, with the president himself even pitching in to finance the project.
"He's a builder at heart, clearly," Leavitt replied when asked if Trump was weighing any additional construction projects. "His heart and his mind is always churning about how to improve things here on the White House grounds. But at this moment in time, of course, the ballroom really is the president's main priority."
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