It was a bit of history, in minor fashion, that today marked the first-ever press conference for Donald Trump’s White House press secretary. As the new administration for the former and now current president continues to fire up, Karoline Leavitt staged her first meeting with the White House press correspondents, and it was a revealing event.
That there was interest from the journalism set was a given, just on the very nature of this being the debut of Leavitt. But factoring in that Trump has been standing on the executive throttle since he was inaugurated and has enacted a number of policies that clearly rankled the media and that Leavitt steps in as the youngest person to hold this position, the press was clearly chomping to attend. The press room was filled in a manner generally not seen for some time.
Most packed @WhiteHouse press briefing I’ve ever seen. About a minute away until @PressSec @karolineleavitt conducts her first briefing. pic.twitter.com/VKwNHFOdQd
— James Rosen (@JamesRosenTV) January 28, 2025
As she came in, there were a few items of note. Two video screens have been installed behind the staging, which will be used to post graphics and data pertaining to the subjects discussed. Gone was the binder that Karoline’s predecessor, Karine Jean-Pierre, relied upon in her briefings, but more notably, also gone was the stammering and seemingly lost nature that KJP frequently displayed at these briefings, making them at times almost unwatchable.
Leavitt began with an overview of some of the things accomplished over the past week, and then went through a slideshow on the monitors describing many of the individuals rounded up in the ICE raids, listing off their criminal histories. She also broke some big news concerning the drones that were buzzed about in the news, as Ward Clark covered previously. Another big announcement was one that has been anticipated, that being how they will be opening up the press room to more alternative media outlets.
🚨 White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announces that a “new media seat” will be available in the briefing room to independent creators and journalists.
The legacy media’s hold over information is crumbling. pic.twitter.com/e5cXWfsJXd
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 28, 2025
She highlighted this shift in calling first on those from alternative outlets, such as Breitbart, and also later from The Daily Caller and One America News. Leavitt declared how she and the White House would be making free expression a priority, noting that they will be reissuing over 440 press passes to those journalists who had them revoked under the prior administration. This is a rather remarkable reality; how many of us heard the bleating from the press pools or the White House Correspondents Association about this shutdown from the Biden administration?
Then we moved on to the real show that everyone was prepared to see – how would Leavitt handle questions from the press directly? Compared to what we have been dealt the past few years, it is fair to judge her with two words: significant upgrade.
The first question she fielded was from Mike Allen of Axios, and this was instantly curious. It was only a couple of weeks ago that in a profile of the founders of Axios, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen declared these to be a complete waste of time. Said Allen to the outlet, “If you look around and there are two or more other reporters there, you can leave.” Added VandeHei, “We beg our reporters to never go to a White House press briefing – that’s a good chunk of your day lost.” Then who is there throwing the first question to Leavitt – Mike Allen himself.
As she went through the room, it was clear very quickly that Leavitt is adept at this. She answered questions directly, thoroughly, and succinctly and did so with a level of confidence that showed she had comprehensive knowledge of both the topics as well as the administration’s positions. The closest we saw to her ducking or avoiding questions was when she mentioned that the answer had previously been given in the past week in some of the various times President Trump spoke on the matters, including during press clutches on Air Force One.
Her first challenge came from Zeke Miller of the Associated Press regarding the telling of the truth in the Press Room. It is something that never would have been asked of Jean-Pierre nor Jen Psaki from the last administration, but Leavitt handled it by pledging to be factual from the podium, and then said of the press members that she hoped for them to “hold yourselves to that same standard,” also promising to call out the press when they deviate from the facts.
It was clear that the biggest issue for the press this day was the calling for a pause on governmental grants and other spending pending reviews. No fewer than five times was Leavitt asked about this, in overlapping questions, so bothered were the journalists with the concept of there being a limit on government spending. When challenged about those crucial programs not being warned, Leavitt explained that it does not affect the crucial spending, and other than that, the warning was made on the day that Trump signed the executive order.
She also detailed some examples of why they were looking into these payouts, saying they found — and stopped — the program where $50 million was being paid to supply condoms to Gaza. It was then explained that people receiving support directly would not be affected, something she needed to reiterate, and the reporters seemed intent on tripping her up on this.
Peter Alexander of NBC News was one who harped on the spending issue, suggesting that Leavitt was not forthcoming about what programs were and were not affected by this pause. But when she explained that he needed to be more specific about which programs he was citing, Alexander answered that there were so many he was unaware where to start – Leavitt then adroitly pointed out how he was expecting answers to a hypothetical concerning programs he could not name. The deportations issue was another common theme that Peter Alexander touched on, and Leavitt handled it rather well.
New WH Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is giving a strong, masterful first press briefing, taking ‘gotcha’ questions in her stride…
NBC’s Peter Alexander: Trump has been deporting migrants who have no crime other than being here illegally… which is a civil crime, not… pic.twitter.com/QkkO3kkQzn
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) January 28, 2025
ABC’s Mary Bruce also brought this topic up and asked if there were firm numbers about how many being deported are convicted criminals versus those simply here illegally. Leavitt gave a good response, explaining that all would be deported since they are in the country illegally and thus criminals, but to quibble on this one, she was asked about prior convictions against those who are illegally present.
What might be the best example of what Karoline Leavitt brings to this office was seen in an exchange with CNN’s Kailan Collins. The newly appointed correspondent asked a great question regarding the positions of those in government Donald Trump removed from their jobs and how it appeared to be a violation of laws by not giving them the required 30-day notice. Leavitt explained how they had not made the move half-cocked but had, in fact, addressed the legality ahead of time, stating not only that Trump had this power as the head of the executive branch but there was, in fact, a legal precedent for it.
Without a binder or notes, the press secretary cited a specific Supreme Court ruling from 2020 regarding this issue and suggested that Collins research the case to see the legal position the administration feels they have on the matter.
CNN’s @KaitlanCollins: “And on what happened on Friday night, the — the administration fired several inspectors general without giving Congress the 30-day legally required notification that they were being fired. I think only two were left at DHS and DOJ and then yesterday we saw… pic.twitter.com/JCcHhyXISC
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 28, 2025
This was an example of a press secretary being prepared and knowing what was happening inside the administration, and it was a stark difference from the previous years. We have almost become adjusted to seeing fumbling from this podium and a compliant press corps tolerating Jean-Pierre looking unprepared and practically bothered at times when expected to respond to a question. It was just one press conference, but this bodes well for a future in which we can rely upon seeing questions addressed, issues explained, and actual news being delivered from this podium.
That would be something that has sorely been missing from the Press Room for years now.
