Karoline Leavitt Resigns: Five Times Reporters Cornered Outgoing White House Press Secretary

[0:00] How can the president claim that America can ever have the moral high ground if he's threatening to destroy civilizations? [0:07] Is it the position of this administration that the press should not prominently cover the deaths of U.S. service members? [0:14] Did the president ever spend hours at Jeffrey Epstein's house with a victim? [0:21] 32 people died in ICE custody last year. [0:24] 170 U.S. citizens were detained by ICE. [0:28] And Renee Goode was shot in the head and killed by an ICE agent. [0:32] How does that equate to them doing everything correct? [0:38] By investigation into the leaks, the secretary said that these people would be prosecuted. [0:42] So is the FBI investigating? [0:45] Regarding the president's rhetoric, when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, [0:49] George W. Bush said in a message to the Iraqi people that the military campaign was directed, [0:57] quote, against the lawless men who rule your country and not against you. [1:02] Yesterday, the president threatened to destroy Iran's civilization. [1:06] The U.S. has been a moral leader for most of its history by fighting wars against other governments, not against civilizations. [1:24] How can the president claim that America can ever have the moral high ground if he's threatening to destroy civilizations and not casting wars as fights against other governments? [1:37] Andrew, I think you should take a look at the actions of this president over the course of the past six weeks [1:42] and the actions of our brave men and women in our United States military who have taken out the mili- [1:48] essentially taken out the military of a rogue Islamic regime that has chanted death to America for 47 years, [1:55] that has killed and maimed thousands of American soldiers over the course of the last five decades. [2:00] The president absolutely has the moral high ground over the Iranian terrorist regime. [2:05] And for you to even suggest otherwise is, frankly, insulting. [2:08] The Press, you just mentioned that the president is going to attend the dignified transfer for these families. [2:13] Given what Secretary Hegseth said this morning, is it the position of this administration that the press should not prominently cover the deaths of U.S. service members? [2:19] 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 [2:30] and the damage it is doing to the rogue Iranian regime that has threatened the lives of every single American in this room. [2:37] If the Iranian regime had their choice, they would kill every single person in this room. [2:41] 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 [2:51] and for every American across the country and for every troop that is based in the Middle East. [2:56] That's what these- [2:57] Secretary Hegseth was complaining that it was front page news about these six service members who were killed. [3:01] That's not what the secretary said, Caitlin, and that's not what the secretary meant. [3:04] And you know it. You know you are being disingenuous. [3:07] There is not. We've never had a secretary of defense who cares more. [3:11] We've never had a secretary of defense who cares more. [3:12] We've never had a secretary of defense who cares more. [3:13] The two 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. [3:16] Yeah. As you know, we cover the deaths of U.S. service members under every president. [3:20] The press does only want to make the president look bad. That's a fact. [3:23] That's a fact. Especially you. No, listen to me. [3:26] Especially you and especially CNN. And the secretary of defense cares deeply about our warfighters and our men and women in uniform. [3:33] He travels all across this country to meet with them, [3:36] to connect with them. [3:37] And your network has hardly ever probably reported on that. [3:40] You also had the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, [3:43] Chairman Cain, who's a brave patriot, [3:45] standing alongside the secretary at the Pentagon this morning, [3:48] again expressing his condolences to these families. [3:51] And I just told you that the President of the United States [3:53] will be attending their dignified transfer. [3:55] So please, so please. [3:57] That's not making the President look bad. [3:59] That's showcasing that. [4:00] We expect you to cover that as you should. [4:03] We expect you to cover that as you should, Caitlin. [4:05] But you and your network know that you take every single thing [4:09] this administration says and tries to use it to make the President look bad. [4:13] That is an objectable fact. [4:15] I don't think covering true deaths is trying to make the President look bad. [4:18] If you're trying to argue right now that CNN's overwhelming coverage [4:22] is not negative of President Donald Trump, [4:24] I think the American people would tend to agree, [4:26] and your ratings would tend to disagree with that as well. [4:29] I have your statement about the new Epstein emails that have been released by House Democrats. [4:36] Separate from why you believe the emails were made public, [4:39] can you address their substance? [4:41] Did the President ever spend hours at Jeffrey Epstein's house with a victim? [4:46] These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong. [4:52] And what President Trump has always said is that he was from Palm Beach and so was Jeffrey Epstein. [4:59] Jeffrey Epstein was a member at Mar-a-Lago until President Trump kicked him out [5:03] because Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile and he was a creep. [5:06] And this email you refer to with the name of a victim that was unredacted now [5:12] and has since been reported on in this room, so I will go ahead and say it, Virginia Guffrey. [5:17] And it was CBS's own reporting Ouija that recently wrote that Ms. Guffrey maintained, [5:22] and God rest her soul, that she maintained that there was nothing inappropriate she ever witnessed, [5:27] that President Trump was always extremely professional and friendly to her. [5:31] And so I think it's a question worth asking the Democrat Party, [5:34] and you should all go ask them after this briefing, [5:36] of why they chose to redact that name of a victim who has already publicly made statements [5:41] about her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and is unfortunately no longer with us. [5:46] Mary. [5:47] Two questions on this. [5:48] In the interest of transparency, why not just go ahead, [5:51] release the full files on Epstein, get this all over with? [5:54] We have, this administration has done more with respect to transparency [5:58] when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein than any administration ever. [6:02] In fact, this administration, the Department of Justice, [6:05] has turned over tens of thousands of documents to the American people. [6:10] We are cooperating and showing support for the House Oversight Committee. [6:14] That's part of the reason you are seeing these documents that were released today, [6:18] because of the House Oversight Committees and Republicans' efforts to get these out to the public. [6:22] This administration also moved, the Department of Justice also moved, [6:25] to unseal grand jury testimony, which we know, unfortunately, a judge declined those requests. [6:32] So this administration has done more than any, [6:34] and it just shows how this is truly a manufactured hoax by the Democrat Party, [6:39] for now they're talking about it all of a sudden, [6:42] because President Trump is in the Oval Office. [6:44] But when Joe Biden was sitting in there, the Democrats never brought this up. [6:47] This wasn't an issue that they cared about, [6:49] because they actually don't care about the victims in these cases. [6:52] They care about trying to score political points against President Trump, [6:56] as we have, of course, seen with this government shutdown. [6:59] And this entire thing, again, it's not a coincidence to the American people at home. [7:03] There are no coincidences in Washington, D.C. [7:06] And it is not a coincidence that the Democrats leaked these emails to the fake news this morning, [7:11] ahead of Republicans reopening the government. [7:14] This is another distraction campaign by the Democrat and the liberal media, [7:18] and it's why I'm being asked questions about Epstein, [7:21] instead of the government reopening because of Republicans and President Trump. [7:24] But given your interest in transparency, Caroline, [7:26] why are White House officials then meeting with Representative Boebert [7:30] in an effort to try and get her to not sign this petition calling for the release of the files? [7:35] Doesn't it show transparency that members of the Trump administration [7:39] are willing to brief members of Congress whenever they please? [7:42] Doesn't that show our level of transparency? [7:45] Doesn't that show the level of transparency when we are willing to sit down with members of Congress [7:49] and address their concerns? [7:50] That is — that's a defining factor of transparency. [7:54] Earlier, you were just defending ICE agents generally. [7:58] And earlier on, Secretary Noem spoke to the media, [8:01] and she said, among other things, that they are doing everything correctly. [8:05] 32 people died in ICE custody last year. [8:09] 170 U.S. citizens were detained by ICE. [8:12] And Renee Goode was shot in the head and killed by an ICE agent. [8:16] How does that equate to them doing everything correctly? [8:19] Why was Renee Goode unfortunately and tragically killed? [8:23] Are you asking me my opinion? [8:25] Yeah. [8:26] Because an ICE agent acted recklessly and killed it unjustified? [8:29] Oh, okay. So you're a biased reporter with a left-wing opinion. [8:32] What do you want me to do? [8:33] Yeah, because you're a left-wing hack. [8:35] You're not a reporter. [8:36] You're posing in this room as a journalist. [8:38] And it's so clear by the premise of your question. [8:40] And you and the people in the media who have such biases but fake — like you're a journalist, [8:45] you shouldn't even be sitting in that seat. [8:47] But you're pretending like you're a journalist but you're a left-wing activist. [8:50] And the question that you just raised and your answer proves your bias. [8:54] You should be reporting on the facts. [8:56] You should be reporting on the cases. [8:58] Do you have the numbers of how many American citizens were killed at the hands of illegal aliens [9:02] who ICE is trying to remove from this country? [9:04] I bet you don't. [9:05] I bet you didn't even read up on those stories. [9:07] I bet you never even read about Lake and Riley or Jocelyn Nungere or all of the innocent Americans [9:12] who were killed at the hands of illegal aliens in this country. [9:15] And the brave men and women of ICE are doing everything in their power to remove those heinous individuals [9:20] and make our communities safer. [9:22] And shame on people like you in the media who have a crooked view and have a biased view [9:28] and pretend like you're a real honest journalist. [9:31] You said on Fox News that the entire Pentagon is working against Secretary Hegseth. [9:37] But the people who were fired were Hegseth's own guy. [9:41] So how do you square that and what do you say to concerns that that's bad management? [9:46] They were Pentagon employees who leaked against their boss to news agencies in this room. [9:51] And it's been clear since day one from this administration that we are not going to tolerate [9:56] individuals who leak to the mainstream media, particularly when it comes to sensitive information. [10:02] And the Secretary of Defense is doing a tremendous job. [10:05] And he is bringing monumental change to the Pentagon. [10:08] And there's a lot of people in this city who reject monumental change. [10:11] And I think, frankly, that's why we've seen a smear campaign against the Secretary of Defense [10:15] since the moment that President Trump announced his nomination before the United States Senate. [10:20] Let me reiterate, the President stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth [10:23] and the change that he is bringing to the Pentagon [10:26] and the results that he's achieved thus far speak for themselves. [10:29] The Press. Is there an FBI investigation into the leaks? [10:31] The Secretary said that these people would be prosecuted. [10:34] So is the FBI investigating? [10:35] You'd have to ask the FBI. [10:37] You have to ask the Department of Justice on what they plan to do. [10:40] But certainly we take leaks with the utmost seriously across this administration. [10:44] You've seen people fired from the Department of Homeland Security. [10:47] The President has made it clear it's an unacceptable behavior. [10:49] It does not do not do not do any kind of lawsuits. [10:50] The President has made it clear it's an unacceptable behavior. [10:51] It is an unacceptable behavior. [10:52] The President of the Attorney of Justice, it is a good way to get things [10:54] or a reproving.