White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared to mock journalists and inquiries that cited “experts” in a recent interview, referring to some “liberal” reporters as “a**holes.”
During an appearance on the Ruthless podcast, Leavitt described how she and White House communications director Steven Cheung approach email requests from journalists.
“It’s my favorite thing,” she said. “They email: ‘Karoline, ethical experts, yes… We write back which experts? And then they send the names, and we Google them, and they're like Democrat donors funded by George Soros.
“So you're like, we copy and paste their Wikipedia like ‘these experts, a**hole?’ This is not a real story. These are not real stories.”
Leavitt added that reference to unspecified experts was “the tell of any liberal reporter.” She then laughed and nodded in agreement as podcast host Josh Holmes described such inquiries as using “weasel words.”
White House officials later downplayed the animosity saying the comment was made in jest on a funny podcast.
In her first White House briefing, Leavitt vowed to open the room to less traditional “voices,” adding that a special seat in the front row would be known as the “new media” seat.
“We welcome independent journalists, podcasters, social media influencers, and content creators to apply for credentials to cover this White House," she said.
Since then, she has welcomed reporters from less traditional outlets, including the Ruthless podcast, far-right news site Brietbart, and The Daily Wire – the network set up by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro.
Her apparent disdain echoes that of president Donald Trump and Elon Musk and their demonization of the so-called “legacy media.”
The Associated Press—a long-trusted source of accurate information—recently filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration after being iced out of press briefings for refusing to adjust its style guide to align with the president.
