Karoline Leavitt's Trump-Like Lack Of Filter Has Resulted In Some Nasty Moments

Karoline Leavitt is, in many ways, quite similar to her boss, Donald Trump — especially when it comes to how she deals with the press. As White House Press Secretary, Leavitt has racked up plenty of unprofessional moments thus far, and many of them have occurred due to her Trump-like lack of filter.  Leavitt clearly has her eyes trained on every journalist as she delivers her briefings, even calling out a reporter for "making a face" during one in March 2025, which is something we could easily imagine the president doing. The Trump staffer was fielding queries when she decided to give the next question to a journalist who seemed unhappy with what she was saying, which, to Leavitt's credit, takes some nerve. 

"To the woman in the purple, because I saw you were making a face at my previous answer, so what's going on?" Leavitt asked with an icy smile (via the Daily Mail). "Oh, did I?" the reporter responded before clarifying that she actually had "a couple of questions." They centered on the Trump administration cracking down on pro-Palestinian protests, which were taking place at Columbia University at the time. The White House vowed to deport international students taking part in these demonstrations. As Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, "We are reviewing the visa status of the trespassers and vandals who took over Columbia University's library. Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation."

The reporter asked why they were so keen to retaliate against students whose end goal aligned with the Trump administration's, thereby wondering, "Why has this not been acknowledged or highlighted?" Leavitt reasoned in response, "Because these colleges and these protests have again put out Hamas propaganda."

In April 2025, Karoline Leavitt allowed Patty Morin, whose 37-year-old daughter, Rachel Morin, was brutally raped and murdered in 2023, to speak with the White House press pool. El Salvadorean native Victor Martinez-Hernandez was found guilty on all charges the day before her appearance in the press briefing room. She detailed the brutal attack on her daughter, telling the gathered reporters why she supported President Trump's crackdown on the deportation of illegal immigrants. As Patty explained, "It's about national security, protecting Americans, protecting our children," (via CBS News).

The room was quiet after she finished speaking, and then Leavitt took her place behind the podium again, asking reporters if they had any questions for Patty or for her. There was a few seconds of silence before some hands went up. Leavitt couldn't miss them, but likely didn't want to grant questions to those who had their hands raised. As she ignored the reporters who were ready and waiting, one said out loud, "I have a question," (via TikTok). 

Leavitt replied, "No. Anybody?" As there was apparently nobody she deemed worthy with their hand raised, Leavitt summarily ended the briefing. One dismayed TikTok user wrote, "Why does this administration not permit freedom of the press?" Added another, "3 people put their hands up [...] like why even ask if you're just gonna ignore them."

Karoline Leavitt has weathered several embarrassing moments that will haunt her for the rest of her career, and one of them was when a reporter questioned her understanding of tariffs. Things turned nasty in the press briefing room as Donald Trump raged his trade war and concerned journalists peppered Leavitt with questions about the impact it would have on regular citizens. One reporter from the Associated Press, Josh Boak, pointed out that it was likely that, ultimately, consumers would pay higher prices for goods because of the tariffs, therefore wondering why the president wasn't instead getting to work on his promises to cut taxes for the average American. 

Leavitt, visibly furious, clapped back that Boak's assertions that tariffs would lead to higher taxes were false. She went on to clarify, "Tariffs are a tax hike on foreign countries [...] Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people," (via Newsweek). A clearly perplexed Boak responded, "I'm sorry, have you ever paid a tariff? Because I have. They don't get charged on foreign companies, they get charged on the importers." Leavitt continued advocating for her boss's decisions before adding, in true Trump fashion, "I think it's insulting that you are trying to test my knowledge of economics and the decisions that this president has made. I now regret giving a question to the Associated Press."

This wasn't the first time the press secretary clashed with this particular outlet either. Early in her tenure, the AP was barred from both the Oval Office and Air Force One after the outlet refused to refer to the Gulf of Mexico by its new name, the Gulf of America. When asked which White House official made the call to ban them, Leavitt deflected.

Karoline Leavitt has had several petty interactions with CNN's Kaitlan Collins. One briefing in particular demonstrated that the White House press secretary had forgotten her filter at home. Collins was probing Donald Trump's wild claims that some of Former President Joe Biden's staff had signed their own presidential pardons using an autopen. She demanded evidence, but Leavitt rationalized that Biden's declining mental health warranted doubt about the authenticity of the pardons. Unable to hide a gleeful smile, she then proclaimed, "We can all finally agree [Joe Biden] was cognitively impaired, I know it took people some time to finally admit that," (via VALNews). 

Collins asked again whether the administration had any evidence to back up their claims, to which Leavitt then snapped, "You're a reporter, you should find out." This was hardly the first time that the White House staffer's nasty side came out where Collins was concerned. During another press briefing, the CNN journalist relentlessly questioned Leavitt about the leaked Yemen war plans, which occurred due to one of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's staffers adding a reporter to the Signal group chat where these highly sensitive plans were being discussed. 

It was a blunder that spawned thousands of headlines, but Leavitt wasn't in the mood to get into it or even to admit that the president hadn't initially been given a truthful account of just how disastrous the leak was. As Collins pushed to ask another question, Leavitt refused. "Kaitlan, I'm not taking your follow-up," she snapped, per the New York Post. Collins continued to press, with Leavitt reiterating that she wasn't going to grant her another question. "Phillip, go ahead, I've called on you," she said, brutally ignoring Collins.

Five months into her tenure as White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt's job had hardly gotten any easier. The youngest press secretary in U.S. history was visibly irritated when a reporter asked her about Donald Trump's claims that a white genocide was taking place in South Africa. This line of questioning came after Trump met with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and showed him video footage of South African opposition party leader Julius Malema calling for the killing of white farmers. While that video footage is undisputed, Trump also showed Ramaphosa another clip of what he contended were thousands of gravesites of white farmers who were brutally murdered. 

But the divisive politician had his facts wrong. The video actually showed a temporary memorial that was erected about five years prior to represent those who had died in farm attacks. Leavitt was visibly seething as the journalist noted the error. She interrupted numerous times, and they eventually got into a heated back-and-forth, with the reporter asking Leavitt plainly, "What protocols are in place when there's unsubstantiated information being put out for the world and worldly leaders?" (via KOMO News). 

The White House staffer admitted that the video showed a memorial site but argued that it didn't take away from the fact that it represented thousands of white farmers who had been killed regardless. Leavitt then pointed out that even the Associated Press had attested to the authenticity of what the video represented (which was ironic, given Leavitt's well-established distaste for the outlet). But she then lost her temper completely, scolding, "That's a ridiculous line of questioning," before swiftly moving on to the next question.