Underestimated and typecast as a young, dumb blonde, White House Press Secretary and New Hampshire native Karoline Leavitt has emerged as the feisty face of the Trump White House.
Leavitt, just 27, has weathered strong criticism from the left wing media for publicly rebuking or ignoring reporters she felt had been unfair to President Trump, including powerhouses like the AP and Wall Street Journal.
She will choke off access to some media, using hardball tactics to make her point – but that is what Trump wants. Leavitt removed the Journal from the press pool during a recent trip to Scotland after the paper published a report alleging Trump sent a bawdy, sexually suggestive message to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.
“Due to the Wall Street Journal’s fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen outlets on board,” she said in a statement.
During a press briefing this week, she blasted the media and Democrats for “spew(ing) lies, knowing they are lies,” about the Russia collusion hoax.
“You had major Democratic Party officials in this city, namely Adam Schiff, Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, who went on television and told the American people, Donald Trump is an asset of Russia. It was a lie, they always knew it,” she said. “Everybody just ran with the lies…It’s a complete scam and a scandal and the President wants to see accountability for that.”
She also slammed media darling Barack Obama for what she called a conspiracy to deliberately mislead voters.
Born and bred in the Granite State, Leavitt is a graduate of Saint Anselm College and began working for Fox News as a student in 2016.
She ran for the U.S. House in New Hampshire in 2022, losing in the general election.
Since taking over as Press Secretary, one of her first acts was to take control of White House pool rotations from the White House Correspondents’ Association, the longtime stuffy organization that is used to controlling the media in Washington.
Trump in fact has been the most accessible and visible president in recent history, taking hours of sometimes hostile questions in some cases.
It sometimes backfires on him, but Trump isn’t going to change his style now.
Leavitt has not only punished some media for their coverage, she has widened access to the White House to non-traditional media like conservative podcasters and bloggers. Leavitt cited the collapsing public trust in the traditional East Coast, West Coast media as a reason for letting bloggers and others in on questions during briefings.
That has irked the traditional media, and her penchant for scolding reporters during White House press briefings has led to vicious headlines in the liberal media like, “Why Karoline Leavitt is so annoying.”
She has also endured withering criticism about her choice of clothing, the age of her husband and the fact she usually wears a cross necklace as a display of her faith.
But Leavitt notably has not made any major mistakes during her press secretary reign or run from the media, like her predecessor from the Biden White House.
How many people her age could step right in the firing line and take command like Leavitt has?
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt visits the Federal Reserve with President Donald Trump on Thursday. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)