President Trump brought up the possibility of Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt being “bad” at her job during a press conference on Tuesday.
Donald Trump spoke about replacing Karoline Leavitt as his press secretary(Image: Getty Images)
President Donald Trump appeared to consider replacing Karoline Leavitt as his press secretary over half a year ago while answering questions on Air Force One.
Back in October, the president was gushing about Leavitt’s lips in an impromptu comment. “How’s Karoline doing? Is she good?” Trump asked.
“Should Karoline be replaced?” he continued. A reporter said, “That’s up to you, sir.”
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Trump was quick to defend Karoline. “It’ll never happen. That face… and those lips,” he said. “They move like a machine gun, right?”
It comes after the president made a similar comment on Tuesday while speaking to reporters. Trump jokingly complained about Leavitt’s work performance. “I got 93% bad publicity,” he said.
“Some people say 97, but between 93 and 97. A person that gets 97 percent—maybe Karoline’s doing a poor job, I don’t know,” he continued, pointing at Leavitt off-camera. “You’re doing a terrible job.”
Trump then asked, “Should we keep her? I think we’ll keep her, he added before turning his sights on the negative attention he gets from the media, “fake press, all fake.”
The president was referencing the 97% figure in September when Trump claimed that major television networks were “97% against” him. Trump complained about late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension and the subsequent threats made by FCC chair Brendan Carr to revoke ABC’s broadcasting license. Trump railed against networks that he claimed do nothing but “hit Trump.”
“All they do is hit Trump. They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that. They’re an arm of the Democratic Party,” he said.
When asked if he was going to have Carr look into other late-night hosts who have been critical of him, Trump said, “I read somewhere that the networks were 97 percent against me. I get 97 percent negative. And yet I won it easily.”
“I won all seven swing states. They give me only bad press. I mean, they’re getting a license. I would think maybe their licenses should be taken away,” he continued. Trump didn’t offer any proof for his claim that 97% of the coverage he receives is negative, only telling reporters in September that he read the statistic “someplace.”
Photo scandal
Trump’s comments about Leavitt came a day after a report revealed that a photo of the press secretary was removed from online photo agencies after they were “made aware” that the White House disapproved of its publication. The photo, by AFP photographer Andrew Caballero-Reynolds, was taken during a Thanksgiving-themed press briefing in November.
Leavitt was holding her son while standing next to “Waddle” the turkey, who was sent to be pardoned by Trump. The Status report claimed that Leavitt was unhappy with the photo’s angle, and the White House made her dissatisfaction known.
The photo was quickly removed from AFP’s library. “During high-volume events like White House briefings, our desk often receives a large influx of photos directly from the photographer’s camera, which are moved quickly by the editor on duty to ensure timely delivery,” said AFP’s director of brand and communications, Grégoire Lemarchand.
“Upon a subsequent review of the day’s production, our editor-in-chief determined that this specific image did not meet our editorial standards. The angle was poor and, more importantly, we already had a selection of superior images from the same event available on the wire.”
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