Karoline Leavitt Obliterates Media Spin in a Masterclass White House Briefing
What she said about Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post might have him reaching for the damage control phone.
Karoline Leavitt came out swinging in today’s White House briefing, taking direct aim at The Washington Post, defending FEMA’s readiness, and confirming that Trump’s new 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum will take effect at midnight.
She didn’t wait for reporters to steer the conversation. Before a single question was asked, Leavitt launched into a sharp critique of the Post for what she described as a dishonest and manipulative headline about the fentanyl crisis.
The headline read: “The mysterious drop in fentanyl seizures on the U.S.-Mexico border.”
Leavitt called it what it was: spin.
“How is this mysterious?” she asked. “There is no mystery about why there is a decrease in fentanyl coming into the United States!”
She credited the administration’s policies—particularly its border strategy and strengthened ties with Mexico—for the decline.
“This administration’s strong border policies are the reason there has been a decrease in fentanyl trafficking,” she said. “His strengthened relationship with Mexican President Sheinbaum and all of the measures he has been taking to deter illegal human and drug trafficking at our United States southern border is the reason for plummeting fentanyl seizures at the U.S. Border.”
But to Leavitt, this wasn’t just about a misleading headline. She called it intentional narrative manipulation.
“This is clearly trying to intentionally manipulate the minds of Americans, and I think the American people understand why there has been fentanyl drop.”
And when the Post left out the administration’s explanation entirely?
“Our office responded to this inquiry, we provided a whole host of the reasons that fentanyl seizures have dropped at the southern border, and The Washington Post refused to run them,” she said.
“And that’s despicable.”
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The narrative spinning didn’t stop there. As soon as reporters got the mic, NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell pushed her network’s angle, claiming Trump’s federal workforce cuts could weaken FEMA’s response during hurricane season.
“FEMA is taking this seriously,” Leavitt responded. “Kristi Noem and the FEMA leadership are all over this.”
“Some of the media reporting we’ve seen has been sloppy and irresponsible,” she added.
“The president isn’t going to enable states to make bad decisions and then come begging for bailouts with federal tax dollars.”
O’Donnell followed up with a jab about a past FEMA joke. Leavitt ended it right there: “It’s serious business, Kelly, and I’m not going to engage in such fodder with a question like that.”
The next question came quickly—a reporter asked Leavitt about reports that Israeli forces had opened fire on Palestinians attempting to access aid in Gaza. The inquiry pressed whether the administration was aware of the situation and what steps were being taken in response.
“There are now reports that Israeli forces are firing on Palestinians trying to get aid from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,” the reporter said. “Is this administration aware of this? And what is being done to address this situation?”
Leavitt responded calmly, flipping through her notes before addressing the room.
“The administration is aware of those reports and we are currently looking into the veracity of them, because unfortunately unlike some in the media, we don’t take the word of Hamas with total truth.”
She pointed to a recent example involving the BBC.
“We like to look into it when they speak, unlike the BBC, who had multiple headlines: they wrote ‘Israeli tank kills 26,’ ‘Israeli tank kills 21,’ ‘Israeli gunfire kills 31,’ ‘Red Cross says 21 people were killed in an aid incident’—and oh wait, they had to correct and take down their ENTIRE story.”
After a pause, she added, “Saying we reviewed the footage and couldn’t find any evidence of anything. Oh, okay!”
Leavitt used the moment to emphasize a broader point.
“So we are going to look into reports before we confirm them from this podium and before we take action.”
And she closed with a message to the media.
“I suggest that journalists who actually care about truth do the same to reduce the amount of misinformation that’s going around the globe on this front.”
By the time one of the final questions came, the exchange followed a familiar pattern—media scrutiny met with detailed pushback.
This time, the focus was the MAHA report, which has been linked to RFK Jr.
A reporter pressed Leavitt, suggesting the report had more serious flaws than previously acknowledged—not just formatting issues, but citations that either didn’t exist or failed to support the conclusions.
Referencing Leavitt’s prior comments, the reporter asked, “I just wanted to follow up on your statement last week regarding the MAHA report. You said, ‘I understand there were some formatting issues that are being addressed and the report will be updated.’”
“It was,” Leavitt replied.
The reporter followed up: “When you said formatting errors, is that what you meant?”
Leavitt responded directly. “Yeah, that’s what I was talking about. There were formatting errors. Those were corrected by the appropriate policy teams at the White House, and a new report was issued.”
She then added with emphasis, “So EXACTLY what I said took place.”
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Just as the briefing was coming to a close, a reporter raised a final challenge—questioning whether the president’s decision to raise tariffs on steel and aluminum was hurting U.S. businesses.
“You’ve got U.S. business leaders begging for certainties. Why did the president suddenly decide to hike tariffs again?”
Leavitt pushed back.
“You also have U.S. business leaders begging to meet with this president and begging to come to the White House to talk to him.”
She then shifted the focus from corporate concerns to the administration’s broader priorities.
“They know he’s the negotiator-in-chief, making good deals on behalf of the American worker—and the steelworker in particular.”
Leavitt described what she saw firsthand at a recent event.
“I was at that speech in Pennsylvania on Friday. There were 2,000 steelworkers and their families in the room. Many of them in hard hats.”
She recounted a conversation with one of them backstage.
“He told me this is the greatest thing that’s happened to that community in 60 years.”
And she closed with a pointed message.
“If not for this president, that steel plant would’ve shut down. Those jobs would be gone. He saved that company. He saved those jobs. And he’s saving that community.”
For Leavitt, it wasn’t just a policy defense—it was a story about real people.
SUMMARY:
• Leavitt blasted the Post for calling the drop in fentanyl seizures “mysterious,” calling it dishonest spin. She revealed the administration had provided a full explanation crediting Trump’s border policy—and the Post refused to print it.
• When NBC claimed Trump’s workforce cuts could hurt hurricane response, Leavitt fired back: “FEMA is taking this seriously.” She added that Kristi Noem and FEMA leadership were fully engaged, and accused NBC of sloppy, agenda-driven reporting.
• Kelly O’Donnell (NBC News) tried to revive the FEMA angle with a snide reference to a past joke. Leavitt shut it down instantly: “It’s serious business, Kelly, and I’m not going to engage in such fodder.”
• Leavitt responded to Gaza-related claims by saying the administration doesn’t take Hamas at its word—“unlike some in the media.” She then revealed the BBC ran multiple false headlines blaming Israel, only to retract the entire story after no evidence was found.
• A reporter tried to corner her on alleged citation issues in the RFK-linked MAHA report. Leavitt confirmed there were only formatting errors, they were fixed, and snapped: “Exactly what I said took place.”
• When asked if tariffs hurt business, Leavitt said CEOs were begging to meet with Trump. Then she told a story about a Pennsylvania steelworker who said Trump’s actions were “the greatest thing to happen to our community in 60 years.”
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Karoline needs to keep lighting them up - keep firing 🔥‼️