White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly Friday on a podcast that, while they might not admit it “on record,” even legacy media reporters “appreciate” the Trump administration’s access and transparency.
Before securing his second chance at a White House term, President Donald Trump frequently criticized the legacy media’s portrayal of him and his administration, often saying they practiced double standards compared to their reporting under former President Joe Biden. On “The Megyn Kelly Show,” the SiriusXM host joked with Leavitt about her predecessors’ “high bar” standards.
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“You must have really wrestled with how you were going to meet the high bar set by Karine Jean-Pierre,” Kelly teased. “Sorry, sorry. Was that out loud? No, she was terrible. I mean, come on. So, how has your approach differed, would you say?”
“I think it’s vastly different,” Leavitt said.
“If you ask people, even in the legacy media, even the Trump haters, they will tell you the approach has been much different. Not just for me, but the entire White House.”
Kelly said she was surprised at the press secretary’s statement. Leavitt said that, while legacy media reporters may not admit their appreciation “on record,” they still flock to her office.
“They come in my office every day, and they’ll admit that off the record. Maybe not on the record, but they will say they appreciate the access and the transparency and the preparation that goes into my briefings and everybody on our team, by the way, who goes out to the cameras and speaks,” Leavitt said. “We have great policy experts who are great spokespeople for the president, and they appreciate the information that they’re being given.”
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Prior to Biden withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race, Democrats defended the former president despite Republicans raising concerns about his mental fitness. When asked about Biden’s speech and multiple falls, Jean-Pierre, who was Biden’s press secretary, dismissed videos of her boss appearing confused or stumbling over his words as “cheap fakes” created by Republicans during a June 2024 press briefing.
Kelly went on to ask Leavitt if she would reveal who her “least favorite” reporter was so far, allowing Leavitt to highlight a moment between her and NBC’s Peter Alexander outside of the White House on Friday.
In a clip of the interaction, Alexander could be heard asking Leavitt about the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) efforts to clean up government waste, prompting Leavitt to ask Alexander if he was “defending” fraudulent payments from Social Security.
“It perplexes me and also infuriates me why the media continues to make excuses for our government spending billions and billions of dollars in wasteful money. Maybe they don’t mind, but I know there’s millions of people watching that do mind. So we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing with DOGE,” Leavitt said.
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DOGE’s and Elon Musk’s efforts to clean up government waste began shortly after Trump entered office, with Democrats ramping up their pushback against the administration and Musk after Feb. 3.
Musk announced during an X space discussion that he and President Donald Trump agreed to upend the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), transferring it under the control of Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Democrats said the move was unlawful. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols rejected a request to block Musk and Trump from restructuring the agency. That request came from a union representing USAID employees.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.