Karoline Leavitt Goes Off on Kaitlan Collins: 'Listen To Me...'
During a press briefing on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confronted CNN’s Kaitlan Collins after Collins questioned her about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's recent comments regarding media coverage of American service members killed in the ongoing U.S.-Israeli conflict over Iran.
Earlier that day, Hegseth labeled the media as “fake news,” claiming they were attempting to “make the president look bad” by reporting on the fatalities of six U.S. service members.
Collins posed a direct question to Leavitt: “Is it the position of this administration that the press should not prominently cover the deaths of U.S. service members?”
Leavitt's response was pointed, targeting both Collins and CNN, as well as the media landscape at large.
She asserted: No, 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 and the damage it is doing to the rogue Iranian regime that has threatened the lives of every single American in this room. If the Iranian regime had their choice, they would kill every single person in this room. And 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.
In response, Collins cited Hegseth’s own statements, pushing back against Leavitt's claims.
Leavitt retorted sharply: “That’s not what the secretary said, Kaitlan, and that’s not what the secretary meant, and you know it. You know you are being disingenuous.”
The exchange escalated, with Collins emphasizing that media outlets routinely report on the deaths of service members across all presidential administrations.
Leavitt expressed her dissatisfaction: The press does only want to make the president look bad. That’s a fact. Listen to me, especially you and especially CNN. And the secretary of defense cares deeply about our warfighters and our men and women in uniform. He travels all across this country to meet with them, to connect with them and your network has hardly ever probably reported on that. You also had the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Chairman Kaine, who’s a brave patriot, standing alongside the secretary at the Pentagon this morning, again expressing his condolences to these families. And I just told you that the president of the United States will be attending their dignified transfer, so please, so please...
Collins countered that covering the dignified transfer of troops—an event President Trump is expected to attend—was not an attempt to portray the president negatively but rather a matter of honoring those who served.
Leavitt then accused Collins and CNN of exploiting “every single thing this administration says” to “make the president look bad,” labeling it “an objectionable fact.”
Collins maintained her stance, stating, “I don’t think covering troop deaths is trying to make the president look bad.”
Leavitt shifted her argument again, asserting: “If you’re trying to argue right now that CNN’s overwhelming coverage is not negative of President Donald Trump, I think the American people would tend to disagree, and your ratings would tend to disagree with that, as well.”
Later on Jake Tapper’s program “The Lead,” Collins reiterated her position, clarifying that “covering the deaths of these service members has nothing to do with President Trump himself personally, just as it didn’t with other presidents.”
Tapper expressed his astonishment at both Hegseth’s and Leavitt’s remarks.
