Psaki calls out Karoline Leavitt for failing to serve the American people as Trump's press secretary

[0:00] This week, White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt announced that she is officially [0:03] leaving the Trump administration. And look, there is a lot to say about her time in the briefing [0:10] room, her role in the Trump era, and her departure, believe me. But I just want to start with what is [0:16] not problematic about Caroline Leavitt leaving the White House. I mean, there are more than a [0:21] few armchair critics out there who have come at Caroline for her decision to leave the job just [0:26] 19 months into Trump's second term, saying she wants to spend more time with her family after [0:30] the birth of her second child. And I have plenty of issues with how Caroline Leavitt has done this [0:35] job that I will get into in a moment. And I've been doing my own version of the briefing since [0:39] she started the job. But let me just say at the outset, that is not one of them. It's really [0:43] hard to have a baby on a senior job at the White House. And believe me, there are unfortunately [0:48] not hundreds or even dozens of past examples to model your experience after, including [0:52] how long to stay in the job. I mean, I was six months pregnant when I returned to be [0:57] President Obama's communications director. Yes, there I am very pregnant in that photo. [1:01] Great photo. There you go. My kids were two and five years old when I went to work for [1:05] President Biden as his press secretary. That's a big part of why I only stayed in that job [1:09] for 15 months, because I wanted to spend time with my kids too. So in my opinion, that's not [1:14] where the critiques of Caroline Leavitt should be. There are, however, plenty of other things [1:19] that need to be said about Leavitt's tenure and how it damaged a job I was honored to serve [1:25] and as were many, many before me in both parties. One thing there is how she saw the role. I mean, [1:32] that's a fundamental basic problem with how she served. And just to give you a sense, I mean, [1:37] every single press secretary during their first briefing lays out how they see the job or they're [1:42] asked about it during the first briefing if they don't say it themselves. And there are a lot of [1:46] examples of this. But just to give you a sense here, here's what I said on the first day of my first [1:51] briefing. We have a common goal, which is sharing accurate information with the American people. [1:58] If the president were standing here with me today, he would say he works for the American people. [2:03] I work for him. So I also work for the American people. [2:08] Now, I thought about that and what I was going to say, you know, you're going to be asked. [2:12] I spoke with President Biden about that because I wanted to make sure it portrayed how he felt about [2:17] that particular role. And I conveyed it that way because that's essentially what the job is. [2:22] Yes, speaking on behalf of the president, but also delivering to the best of your ability, [2:27] accurate information to the American public. Does every press secretary screw up from time to time? [2:32] Yeah, sure. I did. Are there days when you don't have all the information you need to answer every [2:37] single question? Sure. But every day, your North Star, if you are doing the job right, [2:43] is providing information about what the president is doing, how he's trying to make people's lives [2:47] better, how the government is addressing whatever the crisis is of the moment, including ones [2:52] they're not handling so well. Your goal is to serve the public on behalf of the president. [2:57] And it's clear that Caroline Leavitt never saw her job that way. I mean, this was her first day [3:01] and what she had to say. I commit to telling the truth from this podium every single day. [3:07] I commit to speaking on behalf of the president of the United States. That is my job. And I will say [3:13] it's very easy to speak truth from this podium when you have a president who is implementing policies [3:18] that are wildly popular with the American people. And that's exactly what this administration is doing. [3:23] So easy to say true things about the president because he's doing such popular things, [3:30] says Caroline Leavitt, just one week after Trump kicked off his presidency by pardoning more than [3:34] 1,000 January 6 rioters. Not popular, that thing, as are many of the other things he's done. Not [3:40] popular. The job under this administration has never been about being a purveyor of truth for [3:46] information, about answering tough questions every day, including on the days when it wasn't always [3:51] pleasant. It's been about telling the version of the truth according to the serial liar who sits in the [3:56] civil office. Reporters in the room don't matter. The American people who rely on the reporting from [4:00] the reporters in the room doesn't matter. She's never seen her job as working for the American [4:05] people as a public servant. She's seen it as working for one man, much like many other people in the [4:10] administration do, like say Trump's attorney general, Todd Blanche, who acts as though he's still [4:14] Trump's personal attorney and not a person leading what is supposed to be an independent [4:19] department of justice. Caroline Leavitt has spent these last 19 months putting Trump's personal [4:24] interests over her professional duties of the role she is serving in. And that has meant lying [4:30] to the public for Trump's benefit whenever and wherever she could, even about absolutely absurd [4:35] things. Like when she emphatically repeated Trump's lies about vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial [4:41] reflecting pool. Vandalism is very real, despite what Tim Walz wants to say. It's an imaginary [4:49] problem. No, it is not. It's a very real problem. These deranged individuals, many of them [4:54] longtime donors to the Democrat Party, to Barack Obama, to act blue that have been vandalizing and [5:01] desecrating our federal monument. Not true. Any of it. And we know it's not true because the Trump [5:08] administration admitted in court that it was their own shoddy contractor who caused damage to the [5:13] reflecting pool. What a silly thing to lie about. You never want to lie, but what an absurd thing. [5:18] Or how about the time she said this about the cost of Trump's ridiculous ballroom project? [5:23] Back to the ballroom, I'm afraid. I just wanted to ask, because in July, the White House said that [5:31] it would cost 200 million. Yesterday, the president said 300 million. Is 300 million now the operative [5:37] figure? And why did it go up by so much? 300 million is the figure. And again, it's not going [5:43] to cost the taxpayers a dime. Also not true. I mean, thanks to reporting, we know Trump's ballroom [5:49] will cost much more than 300 million dollars. And a significant portion of that is coming from [5:54] taxpayers. In fact, contractor estimates obtained by the Washington Post found that the project will [5:59] cost at least 600 million dollars, with more than half of that coming from taxpayers. And who could [6:06] forget the time she tried to explain away the weird discoloration and bandages on Trump's hands by [6:11] saying they were the result of vigorous handshaking? Remember this? As for the bandages on the hand, [6:19] we've also given you an explanation for that in the past. The president is literally constantly shaking [6:25] hands. The Oval Office is like Grand Central Terminal. I mean, and when she couldn't line [6:32] a reporter, she often resorted to just picking aggressive fights like this moment in the wake [6:36] of the tragic ice shooting of Renee Goode. Why was Renee Goode unfortunately and tragically killed? [6:46] Are you asking me my opinion? Because an ice agent acted recklessly and killed it unjustified. [6:50] Oh, OK. So you're a biased reporter with a left wing opinion. What do you want me to do? [6:54] Yeah, because you're a left wing hack. You're not a reporter. You're posing in this room as a journalist. [6:59] And it's so clear by the premise of your question. And you and the people in the media [7:04] who have such biases but fake like you're a journalist, you shouldn't even be sitting in [7:08] that seat. Now, don't get me wrong. The relationship between the press and the White House is [7:13] supposed to be adversarial by design. I mean, the press in the room are supposed to push for [7:18] more access, for more information. And there are times when it's absolutely appropriate for [7:22] the press secretary to push back. But Caroline Levitt didn't want to engage in good faith with [7:28] those reporters on their tough questions. And so instead, she did everything she could to reshape [7:33] that briefing room into her own personal safe space where she rarely had to answer a tough [7:37] question. Hardly ever. I mean, she only briefed once or twice a week max. Most press secretaries [7:42] brief five days a week, including when they're traveling. Sometimes she simply yelled at the real [7:48] reporters in the room. And over the course of time, she filled the room with MAGA sycophants. [7:52] Every day she began her briefings with a question from what she called the new media seat, [7:58] where basically MAGA podcasters could enter the briefing room. And during periods of time where [8:03] there were a lot of other things they could be asking about, they posed questions like this one. [8:09] Caroline, will you guys also consider releasing the president's fitness plan? He actually looks [8:16] healthier than ever before. Healthier than he did eight years ago. And I'm sure everybody in this [8:20] room could agree. Is he working out with Bobby Kennedy? And is he eating less McDonald's? [8:25] I can confirm the president is in very good shape. I mean, first of all, come on now. Come on now. [8:33] But more importantly, that's real hard hitting journalism there, isn't it? From those new media [8:37] seats. And there were more and more and more of those people in the briefing room taking up more and [8:42] more time and space in the briefing room and in the Oval Office. This is not what the briefing room is [8:48] supposed to look like. This is not who is supposed to get oxygen in the White House press corps. [8:53] The hardest part of your job as White House press secretary shouldn't be keeping a straight face [8:57] while someone asks why Donald Trump is looking so svelte. That's what happened there. And the thing [9:02] is reshaping the briefing room has real consequences beyond just irritating the actual reporters in the [9:08] room. That room is supposed to be where the American people get answers about what their government is [9:12] doing. And when an administration doesn't take that responsibility seriously, the American people [9:17] are the ones who pay the price. [9:19] The American people are the ones who pay the price.