In a recent encounter with reporters in the Oval Office, while signing an executive order on Tuesday, March 31st, President Donald Trump, 79, unleashed another barrage of criticism against the media. His attention then shifted to Karoline Leavitt, the 28-year-old White House press secretary who is expected to go on maternity leave next month to welcome her second child.
Trump made a veiled reference to the 2024 presidential election and stated, "I'm getting 93% to 97% bad publicity. Maybe Karoline isn't doing a good job, I don't know." He then turned to Leavitt directly and said, "You're doing a terrible job." It is understood that these comments were meant as a joke, as noted by a White House representative.
The president then asked reporters, "Shall we keep her? I think we'll keep her," before acknowledging the "bad press" he receives. He went on to say, "But I get 93-97% bad press, fake press, all fake. I won in a landslide. When you get 93-97 bad stories and bad press and you win in a landslide, you know what that says? People don't believe the press."
Trump regularly mentions Leavitt, the youngest White House press secretary in history, during his interactions with reporters. In October, he made headlines when he abruptly shifted the focus to his press secretary while answering a question about his international diplomacy as he departed Israel. "How's Karoline doing? Is she doing good?" Trump asked reporters about her job performance. "Should Karoline be replaced?" When the group expressed support for her, Trump assured that replacing her would "never happen."
As a reporter began to ask another question, Trump continued about Leavitt: "That face... and those lips, they move like a machine gun." Trump has made similar comments about Leavitt during an August interview with Newsmax. "She's a star, and she's great. I don't think anybody has ever had a better press secretary than Karoline. She's been amazing," Trump told host Rob Finnerty.
Leavitt worked as Trump's national press secretary during his 2024 presidential campaign and earned the coveted White House press secretary role when Trump took office for his second term in January 2025. Earlier this week, Leavitt also made headlines after news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) reportedly deleted a photo of the press secretary with her son and a turkey after being "made aware" that the White House found it "unflattering." The news outlet denied that the White House had asked for it to be taken down, stating that it was only removed because the quality of the photo did not meet AFP's standards.
