White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt lashed out at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins during a press briefing on Wednesday after Collins challenged her over the latest attack on the media by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Earlier in the day, Hegseth accused the “fake news” media of trying to “make the president look bad” by covering the deaths of American service members killed in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Six have died so far.
Collins asked Leavitt, “Is it the position of this administration that the press should not prominently cover the deaths of U.S. service members?”
Leavitt responded by attacking Collins, her network CNN and the media more broadly.
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.
Collins pushed back, quoting Hegseth’s own remarks.
Leavitt responded 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 back-and-forth continued, with Collins noting that the media covers “the deaths of U.S. service members under every president.”
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 replied that covering the dignified transfer of the troops — which Trump will attend — is “not making the president look bad” but simply “showcasing that.”
Leavitt then accused Collins and CNN of trying to use “every single thing this administration says” to “make the president look bad,” calling it “an objectable fact.”
Collins pushed back again.
“I don’t think covering troop deaths is trying to make the president look bad,” she said.
Leavitt pivoted once more, saying: “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 show “The Lead,” Collins reiterated 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 said he was shocked by Hegseth’s and Leavitt’s remarks.
