Karoline Leavitt's Most Awkward Press Briefing Blunders

Grocery Pump? Never heard of her. That is, until Karoline Leavitt coined the term during a press briefing in February 2025. Now, the Grocery Pump has its own Bluesky account, with a tongue-in-cheek bio reading: "Karoline Leavitt invented me. I pump out groceries at high prices. Eggs are now $500 a gallon!" The account has 1.2K followers as of this writing and constantly calls out the Trump administration on its easily debunked claims that grocery prices have gone down. Suffice it to say that Leavitt made quite the blunder there. The White House press secretary spoke the Grocery Pump into existence after reporters asked her when Americans can expect to dish out less money at the store. 

"The prices at the store and at the grocery pump?" Leavitt asked, before launching into a total non-answer that only further muddied the waters (via X, formerly known as Twitter). Naturally, this wasn't her first — or last — blunder. But, as Amy Prenner, a communications expert and the founder of The Prenner Group, exclusively told The List, we should cut Leavitt, who was barely a week into her tenure as press secretary when the embarrassing moment occurred, some slack. "It's easy for critics to pounce. But honestly, these moments are usually just a sign of nerves, inexperience, or sometimes both," she pointed out. The flub was made all the more awkward when former RNC Chairman Michael Steele made fun of Leavitt on X. "I want my prices at the 'grocery pump' to go down NOW! I can't afford the eggs I need to put into my tank," he quipped.

Karoline Leavitt has managed to rack up several big blunders we simply couldn't ignore since starting her White House tenure, including when she made a glaring grammatical error live on Fox News barely a week after inventing the Grocery Pump. Sean Hannity was discussing DOGE and asked Leavitt to weigh in. It seems she was a tad too excited to offer her two cents, because the Trump staffer managed to steamroll through her answer, seemingly not even realizing — or not wanting to admit — that she'd misspoken. "President Trump campaigned alongside Elon Musk, and President Trump promised voters on the campaign that he was going to make our government more efficiency," Leavitt confidently proclaimed (via X), referring to the jobs that DOGE was relentlessly cutting. The word she was looking for was "efficient" but Leavitt didn't stop to correct herself, and netizens assumed she didn't even realize her blunder, quickly taking to social media to call her out. 

"Make English Great Again," one user commented. "Lmfao. Great vernacular," another concurred. We should probably forgive the White House press secretary for the flub, though, especially since it was so early in her tenure. Communications expert Amy Prenner confirmed to The List that misspeaking isn't uncommon, particularly when the pressure is on, and with such a high-profile governmental position, that is a given. But other factors can also be at play. "For newer speakers, it often comes down to not having enough practice or not being totally comfortable with the material," Prenner asserted. "Public speaking is a skill, and like any skill, it takes time to get it right [...] Nerves can make anyone's mind go blank or cause them to stumble over a phrase they've said a hundred times before."

Some of Karoline Leavitt's low-energy briefings in April 2025 had people speculating that she couldn't handle the heat of her job. But, just a month prior, she somehow managed to tell the press that President Donald Trump was actively "fighting law and order," (via The Independent). As one commenter joked on X, "'Fighting law and order' well, they certainly are," while another sarcastically noted, "Off to a good start on that." The White House press secretary had been answering questions about the Department of Justice's progress under the Trump administration when she made the gaffe. Leavitt accused the Democrats of weaponizing the justice system against the president moments before she effectively announced that her boss considers himself above the law. 

Leavitt got similarly tongue-tied during another briefing just two days later, proudly telling a reporter, "[Trump] is committed to passing a big reconciliation package later this year, ending no taxes on tips, taxes on overtime, no taxes on social security," (via X). As one dismayed X user wrote in response, "Many people have problems with double negatives but Karoline Leavitt seems to struggle with single negatives." It's worth noting that the Trump staffer didn't show any signs of noticing her blunder in either of these cases, which Amy Prenner acknowledged isn't the best way to handle things.

While the communications expert doesn't recommend making a big fuss, swiftly and assertively correcting your mistake is key to maintaining your credibility and people's confidence in you. "A simple, 'Let me rephrase that,' or 'Correction: I meant to say...' is all you need. Then, keep going with confidence," she advised. If Leavitt had implemented this advice, maybe there wouldn't have been as much confusion or backlash. 

Karoline Leavitt has been routinely called out for her makeup blunders, and while she probably expects her appearance to be picked apart because of her high-profile job, getting fact-checked by a reporter likely wasn't on her 2025 Bingo card. There's nothing more awkward than being caught in a half-truth while you're delivering a press briefing, but Leavitt was left having to do some damage control after she disparaged U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, who summarily put a stop to President Donald Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act as he ramped up his deportation efforts. The White House press secretary decried Boasberg as a "Democrat activist" (via Brut America), arguing, "He was appointed by Barack Obama." 

A journalist quickly chimed in to let Leavitt know she had her facts wrong, clarifying, "Judge Boasberg was originally appointed by George W. Bush and then elevated by Barack Obama." Instead of simply conceding that she'd made a mistake, a clearly irritated Leavitt argued "67% of all the injunctions in this century have come against [...] Donald J. Trump." She then proceeded to repeat herself to emphasize her point before changing the figure from 67% to 60%, adding that these injunctions were brought against the president "by partisan activists in the judicial branch [...] and 92% of those have been from Democrat-appointed judges." 

The Trump staffer's point was moot because, again, Boasberg wasn't initially appointed by a Democrat. He also hasn't always ruled in the party's favor either. In fact, the judge is the reason Hillary Clinton's private email correspondence was released ahead of the 2016 elections, something that helped Trump secure his win. Also, reminding everyone of all the injunctions against the president wasn't exactly the smartest defense.