For only the second time since the week of January 26, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt held a second briefing of a week. Along with our friend Katie Pavlich of Townhall having the chance to sit in the “new media seat,” she and other conservative reporters showed the liberal reporters it’s not that hard to ask real questions of your own “side” on issues ranging from crime to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to immigration to the judiciary.
Pavlich kicked things off with a question about whether flights to El Salvador of alleged illegal immigrant gang members would continue:
She also invoked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) derogatory comments about taxpayers on ABC’s The View:
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said yesterday that he was united with Democrats and working against Americans who “their attitude is, I made my money all by myself. How dare your government take my money from me,” or “I built my company with my bare hands. How dare your government tell me how to treat my customers.” What is the President’s response to this given his upcoming tax agenda and need to work on Capitol Hill?
Leavitt took it in stride, suggesting Democrats join the Trump agenda on tax reform since they “clearly need a boost from the American public” with “[t]heir approvals...at an all-time record low.”
NBC’s Garrett Haake came next and, shockingly, said he would follow up on Pavlich’s first question:
Oh, so conservative reporters do ask good questions?! Who knew!
In a response to Haake, Leavitt provided an astonishing statistic on Trump’s legal record: “67 percent of all of the injunctions in this century have come against which president? Donald J. Trump...and 92 percent of those have been from Democrat-appointed judges.”
Fox’s Jacqui Heinrich also pulled on this thread:
After a follow-up citing concerns from National Review writer and Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy about due process for these alleged Tren de Aragua members, Heinrich wrapped with a question about the attacks on Tesla owners as, in addition to the fires, there’s “a website that’s trying to dox Tesla owners across the country and saying they’re only going to take down personal information when — people show that they’ve sold their cars.”
Leavitt called this “despicable” with “[t]he violence that has taken place” and argued Democrats should “come out and condemn this heinous violence that we have seen, and I believe the Attorney General has said she’s investigating these incidents as acts of domestic terrorism.”
Later, our friend Mary Margaret Olohan of the Daily Wire was the only reporter to mention an escalation within the federal bureaucracy of resistance to DOGE. This time, it’s at the Institute of Peace (whose headquarters was completed in 2011 at an astounding cost of $186 million)
Olohan switched gears to wondering if the administration will work to find the leaker of the Dobbs opinion from the Supreme Court. Immediately following Olohan, the Daily Signal’s Elizabeth Mitchell brought up a Justice Department complaint filed by an Illinois mother whose daughter allegedly had to share a locker room with a biological male (click “expand”):
OLOHAN: And just really quick on the Supreme Court, I know it’s been almost three years now since the leak of the draft Dobb’s opinion to Politico, actually — a leak which sparked protesting outside the homes of the justices, and even brought on one attempted assassination attempt. I know Justice Alito said that it made the justices targets for assassination. But yet, the Supreme Court has not tracked down any leaker. Does the White House have interest in finding out who that leaker was and can you comment on that at all?
LEAVITT: I know generally speaking, the president has an interest in finding leakers, and he believes it’s unacceptable and it’s the position of this administration you’ve seen the Secretary of Homeland Security has taken tough action at her agency. Leaking is unacceptable to this President and to the leaders across the board in this cabinet, especially when it puts people in harm’s way. [TO MICHELL] Sure.
MITCHELL: Thank you, Karoline. A mom whose daughter was forced to change in the locker room with the biological male at school filed a complaint with the DOJ. How will the Trump DOJ deal with violations of President Trump’s orders women and girls like this?
LEAVITT: I would defer you to the Department of Justice on that specific case, but the President has made it incredibly clear that it is the policy of this administration that there are only two genders, male and female, only two sexes rather, male and female, and that we are not going to tolerate such behavior by men pretending to be women. The President will continue to strongly stand for the rights of women and girls, not just in sports and on athletic fields, but also in private spaces like locker rooms and bathrooms.
The liberal journalists were actually called on too. ABC’s Rachel Scott twice tried to ask (including below) whether the White House would publish more details on the illegal immigrants flown to El Salvador, including here:
CNN’s Jeff Zeleny implied he believed President Trump was setting “a dangerous precedent” by criticizing the Obama-appointed District Judge that attempted to block the TdA flights, James Boasberg:
Real Clear Politics’s Philip Wegmann tried to get answers from Leavitt on a different Zeleny topic concerning discrepancies between Russia and U.S. readouts of Tuesday’s call between President Trump and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin:
Before closing out with Politico and The Wall Street Journal, Leavitt called on Newsmax’s Mike Carter (who brought up gas prices and Minnesota Democrat Governor Tim Walz’s smear of Tesla) and Daily Caller’s Reagan Reese (who circled back to the Tesla attacks) (click “expand”):
CARTER: The White House said yesterday that gas prices across the U.S. have fallen for the fourth straight week. 34 states now seeing gas under $3 a gallon. This limited ceasefire with Ukraine regarding oil refineries, energy, will that affect gas prices here in the U.S.?
LEAVITT: Well, it’s certainly the President’s hope that gas prices will continue to fall, and he’s working every single day to ensure that we do. As you just mentioned, there’s been very encouraging data. Inflation is cooling and gas prices are falling. The President has established a national energy dominance council and it’s ultimately the President’s goal and this administration is working hard on it every single day to increase our energy production right here in the United States of America to have it Trump energy boom like we saw in our first term, which will not only lead to lower fuel prices here at home, but also lessen the rate of inflation that was created by the previous administration
CARTER: And one more on Tesla, Karoline. Tim Waltz — Governor Waltz saying last night he frequently checks Tesla stock in doing so, to “give me a little boost during the day.” How should Americans view politicians who take pride in the downfall of an American car company?
LEAVITT: I think that’s quite sad, but I think Governor Waltz, unfortunately, is living a sad existence after his devastating defeat on November 5. [TO REESE] Reagan. Reagan, go ahead.
REAGAN REESE: Oh! Thank you, Karoline. Across the country, Tesla cars are being lit on fire. Dealerships are being shot up. Molotov cocktails are being used. There was a website posted yesterday that shared the addresses of private Tesla owners and reportedly have cash Patel’s information on it. AG Bondi has called this acts of domestic terrorism. Does the White House have any indication that this is some sort of coordinated movement that’s being funded by some outside group, and do you know if the investigation by the DOJ is being investigated. as incidents of organized terror?
LEAVITT: I believe the Attorney General has made her comments clear on that. She is investigating these events as acts of domestic terrorism, and we fully condemn them, and as I said earlier to Jacqui’s question, we think it’s despicable what is happening to not just this American company, but also their innocent employees and again, innocent Americans who drive these vehicles. We condemn it wholeheartedly.
Again, these aren’t softballs. Rather, they’re about topics affecting voters and of interest to their audiences.
To see the relevant transcript from the March 19 briefing (including even more questions), click here.
