Tag: press secretary
Karoline Leavitt

White House Pushing Smear Campaign Against Atlantic Editor (And His Wife)

As part of ongoing efforts to escape the growing scandal around leaked war plans, Donald Trump’s White House has now resorted to attacking the spouse of The Atlantic's editor Jeffrey Goldberg, who broke the story.

During her daily press briefing on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt opened a new front in the White House effort.

“If this story proves anything, it proves that Democrats and their propagandists in the mainstream media know how to fabricate, orchestrate, and disseminate a misinformation campaign quite well,” Leavitt said. “There’s arguably no one in the media who loves manufacturing and pushing hoaxes more than Jeffrey Goldberg. Goldberg is an anti-Trump hater. He is a registered Democrat. Goldberg’s wife is also a registered Democrat and a big Democrat donor who used to work under who? Hillary Clinton.”

Leavitt did not offer any evidence that Goldberg makes up stories. In fact, a past Goldberg article that Trump has complained about for years—that Trump called dead veterans “suckers” and “losers”—was later verified by Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly.

Goldberg is married to Pamela Ress Reeves, a policy strategist. Her big sin, according to Leavitt, appeared to be her work as director of the State Department’s International Fund for Women and Girls, under the department’s secretary at the time, Hillary Clinton.

The Trump administration and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency have cut funding for vulnerable women and children around the world.

Leavitt joined the Trump team after praising a January 6 insurrectionist as a “hero” and promoting conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election.

In her new position, Leavitt has repeatedly lied on Trump’s behalf. Despite bipartisan uproar about Trump’s decision to pardon January 6 convicts, including many convicted of violent crimes, Leavitt said it didn’t cause much controversy. She followed that up by pushing the falsehood that the Biden administration spent $50 million on condoms for the Gaza Strip, and by awarding a right-wing hoaxer with a pass to the briefing.

The administration is clearly aware the scandal is a problem.

The party has gone after the issue with gusto, alongside their allies at conservative media outlets like Fox News and Newsmax. But instead of coming clean about what was disclosed, firing involved parties, and working to provide a full accounting, the Trump team would rather smear reporters and their closest relatives.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

White House Says Musk Won't File Public Financial Disclosure

White House Says Musk Won't File Public Financial Disclosure

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insists President Donald Trump’s Director of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk, is complying with all federal laws. The Trump administration is under growing pressure to release Musk’s financial disclosure form and any conflict of interest waiver the President may have signed, if there is one.

The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, who wrote the best-selling book, Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, made a rare appearance inside the White House press briefing room on Wednesday to challenge Musk’s actions.

“You talked about the transparency with DOGE and Elon Musk,” Haberman reminded Leavitt. “There is a conflict of interest law in place that says that people who have personal interests can’t interact with government entities that could touch on those. Has President Trump signed a waiver for Elon Musk, does such a thing and exist, if it does, will you guys release it in the interest of transparency that he’s committed to?”

“I have not seen the law that you are referring to,” Leavitt was quick to respond. “What I can tell you is that Elon Musk is, I’ve confirmed before, is a special government employee. He is filing the proper financial disclosure. And he is complying with all applicable federal laws.”

“As you also heard, Elon addressed this directly yesterday in the alleged conflict of interest, and he said everything he’s doing is very public, and if you all perceive a conflict of interest, you’re welcome to bring that up.”

“And as the president said, if he feels like Elon is engaging in something that’s a conflict of interest, he will tell Elon not to do that,” she claimed. “Elon also said yesterday that before he moves forward with anything, he consults with the president of the United States. So, um, we’re very confident with the ethics and the guardrails that have been put in place here.”

On Tuesday during his Oval Office press conference, Elon Musk told reporters that there is no conflict of interest.

Musk’s SpaceX reportedly received a $38.8 million contract from NASA this week.

CNN on Tuesday reported that Musk has not filed and will not file a public financial disclosure form.

“Musk, speaking in the Oval Office, sought to underscore his belief that ‘transparency is what builds trust,’ and insisted that all of his team’s efforts were being made public on DOGE’s social media accounts and website,” CNN reported. “But he also seemed to chafe at some of the scrutiny he was receiving, likening it to a ‘daily proctology exam.'”

“Earlier in the day, a White House official said Musk would not need to file a public financial disclosure, allowing the world’s richest man to skirt public scrutiny of his potential conflicts. Musk’s various companies have billions of dollars in government contracts.”

“As an unpaid special government employee who is not a commission officer, he will file a confidential financial disclosure report per the norm,” a White House official told CNN, the news outlet reported.

“We wouldn’t let him” have a conflict of interest or a lack of transparency, President Trump assured reporters Tuesday.

But the New York Times on Tuesday reported that the White House had not responded to its request “for a copy of the waiver, a document that is required under federal law to be released. Ethics waivers are typically drafted based on conflicts identified through a financial disclosure filing, so it is possible that no waiver has been prepared yet.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Karoline Leavitt

Trump Press Secretary Can't Confirm Musk Security Clearance

President Donald Trump's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, on Monday could neither confirm nor deny whether billionaire Elon Musk has received a security clearance as a US government employee under the president's new administration.

During a press conference outside of the White House, CNN's Chief White House Correspondent Caitlin Collins asked the MAGA secretary, "Can you confirm that Elon Musk is a special government employee? And what kind of security clearance does he have?"

Leavitt replied, "I can confirm he's a special government employee. I can also confirm that he has abided by all applicable federal laws. As for his security clearance, I'm not sure, but I can check."

Collins then asked, "Did he pass a background check, do you know?"

"I don't know about the security clearance, but I can check," Leavitt replied.

Collins then asked if the MAGA secretary knows whether anyone on Musk's team has security clearance.

"I don't, no. But, again, I can check on that for you," Leavitt said.

Nico Perrino, executive dircector of the free speech nonprofit FIRE, replied: "Here we have a government employee holding press conferences about his government work on his privately owned social media platform, where he's also banning journalists and members of the general public who criticize him. Seems we're getting into First Amendment territory ..."

Former Politico CA reporter Carla Marinucci commented: "He’s acting co-president — with access to millions is private citizens’ data — and she doesn’t know if he has a security clearance???!"

Watch the video below or at this link.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Karoline Leavitt

New White House Press Secretary Debased Herself To Rejoin Trump Entourage

Donald Trump announced Karoline Leavitt as the incoming White House press secretary on Friday. Leavitt previously served as his campaign’s national press secretary and ran unsuccessfully in 2022 for a New Hampshire congressional seat.

Her rise follows a similar trajectory to other integrity-free Republicans. According to CNN, Leavitt worked in the first Trump White House as an assistant press secretary before leaving to become Rep. Elise Stefanik’s communications director.

After the coup attempt at the Capitol building on January 6, Leavitt made two social media posts that have since been deleted, justifiably criticizing the insurrection. The first included video of then-Vice President Mike Pence presiding over the certification of the 2020 election voting results, calling the attack at the Capitol “a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol.”

The second post praised a Capitol police officer who tricked insurrectionists by leading them away from congressional members.

Leavitt, not unlike Stefanik, has quickly gone from criticizing the “anti-American” insurrection to becoming both an electionand an insurrection denier. Stefanik was recently announced as Trump’s ambassador to the U.N., proving that her willingness to debase herself is one of the only criteria being checked off by the incoming administration.

If you want a preview of what we are likely to see with Leavitt in the White House Briefing Room, you need only look at how she has performed during Trump’s campaign.

Leavitt’s willingness to lie unabashedly was on display throughout 2024. In August, she denied the Trump campaign had any connections to Project 2025 in an interview with right-wing podcaster Steven Crowder. She did this having already appeared herself in a Project 2025 training video.

Leavitt also excelled in promoting the alternate reality that Trump's many disastrous press conferences showcased the “discipline” of his campaign. CNN host Kate Bolduan cut an interview with Leavitt short after she refused to answer direct questions about the anti-immigrant disinformation the Trump campaign was peddling. When confronted with facts debunking statements about FEMA money “being stolen” to house immigrants, Leavitt simply said it didn’t matter what was true.

Unlike Trump’s first short-lived press secretary, Sean Spicer, Leavitt seems to have excised any capacity for regret. According to CBS News, the 27-year-old Leavitt will become the youngest White House press secretary since disgraced former president Richard Nixon chose 29-year-old Ronald Ziegler for that position in 1969. How fitting.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Shop our Store

Headlines

Editor's Blog

Corona Virus

Trending

World