White House press secretary goes off, calls reporter “left wing hack” in heated press meeting

The White House briefing room turned confrontational after questions about immigration enforcement and deaths in federal custody.

Tensions rose as a reporter pressed the administration on its handling of a deadly year for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The exchange unfolded against a backdrop of growing scrutiny over ICE operations, following multiple fatalities and a high-profile shooting that has drawn national attention.

A deadly year

According to The Independent and The Trace, the first year of Donald Trump’s second term as president has been ICE’s deadliest year in two decades, with 32 people dying in agency custody.

The period also included the fatal shooting of Renee Good and the arrests of dozens of U.S. citizens during enforcement actions.

Administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, have said federal agencies are doing “everything correctly” on immigration enforcement despite those incidents.

Niall Stanage, a White House columnist for The Hill, brought these data to the White House Press Room — and then things started going off the rails.

Question sparks clash

After listing the data, Stanage asked Leavitt: “How does that equate to them doing everything correctly?”

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded by asking, “Why was Renee Good unfortunately and tragically killed?”

When Stanage said, “Because an ICE agent acted recklessly and killed her unjustifiably,” Leavitt shifted from policy to personal criticism.

Harsh rebuke

“Oh, OK, so you’re a biased reporter with a left-wing opinion, because you’re a left-wing hack, you’re not a reporter, you’re posing in this room as a journalist, and it’s so clear by the premise of your question,” Leavitt said.

She continued, “You shouldn’t even be sitting in that seat,” adding that he was “pretending you’re a journalist and you’re a left-wing activist.”

Leavitt said reporters should focus on “all of the innocent Americans who are killed by illegal aliens in this country” and defended ICE personnel, saying, “the brave men and women of ICE are doing everything in their power to remove those heinous individuals and make our country safer.”

She closed by saying, “Shame on you people in the media who have a crooked view, a biased view, and pretend you’re an honest journalist.”

She did not provide an answer to Stanage’s initial question.

Sources: Fox News, The Independent, The Hill, The Trace, RTÉ, The White House video library

This article is made and published by Jens Asbjørn Bogen, who may have used AI in the preparation