White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt unloaded on CNN’s Kaitlan Collins for asking about the administration’s position on media coverage of U.S. soldiers killed in the conflict raging in Iran and across the Middle East.
At a briefing Wednesday, CNN’s chief White House correspondent asked Leavitt about a comment Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made at an earlier Pentagon press conference, where he complained that the “fake news” was reporting on the deaths of the fallen service members to make President Donald Trump “look bad.”
Collins and Leavitt entered into a heated back-and-forth at the briefing after the reporter asked about Hegseth’s remarks and news that Trump intends to attend the dignified transfer of the remains of the six soldiers, who were killed Sunday in the attack on a command center in Kuwait.
“Is it the position of this administration that the press should not prominently cover the deaths of U.S. service members?” Collins asked Leavitt.
“No,” Leavitt answered. “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.”
Collins pushed Leavitt further and said that Hegseth was “complaining that it was front page news about these six service members who were killed.”
Leavitt scolded Collins for the follow-up question and talked over the CNN reporter when she tried to fact check the press secretary.
“That’s not what the secretary said, Kaitlan, and that’s not what the secretary meant,” Leavitt said. “And you know it. You know you’re being disingenuous.”
Collins then read out Hegseth’s direct quote to Leavitt, where he said: “When a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it’s front page news. I get it. The press only wants to make the president look bad, but try for once to report the reality.”
“You know we cover the deaths of service members under any president,” Collins also hit back.
Leavitt then doubled down and agreed with Hegseth.
“The press does only want to make the president look bad,” the rattled press secretary replied. “That’s it. That’s a fact.”
“Listen to me, especially you, and especially CNN,” Leavitt snapped back at Collins. “The Secretary of Defense cares deeply about our war fighters 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.”
Collins attempted to get a final word in and point out that reporting on Trump’s plans to attend the dignified transfer of the soldiers’ remains is not making the president “look bad,” but was “showcasing” his presidency.
“We expect you to cover that as you should, Kaitlan, but you and your network know that you take every single thing this administration says and tries to use it to make the president look bad,” Leavitt said, and took a final swipe at CNN’s ratings.
Earlier in the briefing, Leavitt said that Trump’s decision to attack Iran was rooted in what she called a “feeling based on fact” that Iran would imminently attack the United States and its allies.
“The president was not going to be just another president on a very long list who sat back and stood by and passed the buck of this direct threat to the next administration,” she said Wednesday after The Independent pressed her on the shifting explanations for the war offered by top administration officials since the weekend.
