White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt unloaded on NCS’s Kaitlan Collins for asking concerning the administration’s place on media protection of U.S. soldiers killed in the conflict raging in Iran and throughout the Middle East.
At a briefing Wednesday, NCS’s chief White House correspondent requested Leavitt a few remark Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made at an earlier Pentagon press conference, the place 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 right into a heated back-and-forth at the briefing after the reporter requested about Hegseth’s remarks and news that Trump intends to attend the dignified switch of the stays of the six troopers, who had been killed Sunday in the assault on a command middle 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 additional and mentioned 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 query and talked over the NCS reporter when she tried to reality verify the press secretary.
“That’s not what the secretary said, Kaitlan, and that’s not what the secretary meant,” Leavitt mentioned. “And you know it. You know you’re being disingenuous.”
Collins then learn out Hegseth’s direct quote to Leavitt, the place he mentioned: “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 additionally hit again.
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 NCS,” Leavitt snapped again 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 tried to get a remaining phrase in and level out that reporting on Trump’s plans to attend the dignified switch of the troopers’ stays shouldn’t be making the president “look bad,” however 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 mentioned, and took a remaining swipe at NCS’s rankings.
Earlier in the briefing, Leavitt mentioned that Trump’s resolution to assault Iran was rooted in what she known as a “feeling based on fact” that Iran would imminently assault 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 mentioned Wednesday after The Independent pressed her on the shifting explanations for the struggle provided by high administration officers because the weekend.