Karoline Leavitt rebukes NYT reporter after he asks about Trump’s decision to avoid ‘disrespecting’ Putin

WASHINGTON, DC: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed New York Times reporter Shawn McCreesh on Tuesday, August 19, after he questioned President Donald Trump’s decision to avoid a call with Vladimir Putin during a summit with European leaders. Trump, aiming to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, defended the move earlier on Fox News.

“I didn’t do it in front of them. I thought that would be disrespectful to President Putin. You know, I wouldn’t do that, because they have not had the warmest relations. And actually, President Putin wouldn’t talk to the people from Europe. I mean, that was part of the problem,” he said. 

Karoline Leavitt pushes back against a journalist's question at WH briefing

At the August 19 White House press briefing, Karoline Leavitt firmly responded to a question posed by New York Times reporter Shawn McCreesh.

He had asked, “If the point is to get everybody on the same page, why wouldn’t Trump just take the call from Putin while the other leaders were in the room? He said it would be disrespectful to do that, but why is it disrespectful?” 

Leavitt opened her response with a pointed remark: “With all due respect, only a reporter from The New York Times would ask a question like that, Shawn.”

She went on to explain, “The president met with all of these European leaders at the White House 48 hours after sitting down with President Putin on American soil."

Leavitt emphasized the significance of the talks: “In fact, there was so much progress in the readout that was given to these European leaders immediately following his meeting with President Putin that every single one of them got on a plane 48 hours later and flew to the United States of America."

Leavitt added, “And if I could just read for all of you some of the statements from those European leaders yesterday. You had President Zelensky himself saying it was a very good conversation. 'It was really good. We spoke about very sensitive points.'”

She also highlighted comments from Secretary General Mark Rutte, who said, “It was only because of the president that this deadlock was broken with President Putin by starting a dialogue."

Leavitt concluded by saying, “So these leaders who this war is in their backyard are very grateful that the president took that call, and that he was there to provide them with a readout of Russia’s thinking on this, something that was not done by the previous administration."

Internet reacts to Karoline Leavitt's sharp remark toward a journalist

A video of Karoline Leavitt’s sharp exchange with a reporter during a White House briefing quickly went viral, drawing thousands of comments online. One user supported her response, writing: “She's right. If he was going to talk to Putin in front of all those people, he would have invited Putin to that meeting. It's not his fault Putin called at that time."

One commenter argued, “This reporter asked a perfectly reasonable question about diplomatic transparency, and the professional spokesperson's response shows us a total breakdown in how political communication works. Instead of addressing the substance — why private calls with adversaries might be problematic when allies are excluded — she attacked the messenger's institutional affiliation. This is the 'shoot the messenger' fallacy dressed up as media criticism. We should all see right through it..”

Another user questioned Leavitt’s dismissal, writing: “OK. I’m not a reporter from the NYT. And I have the same question. Answer now!"

Criticism grew sharper from there. One person wrote, “Karoline Leavitt's snide deflection of a valid question exposes her as nothing more than a partisan hack shielding Trump's secretive Putin pandering from scrutiny.”

Another added, “Pathetic. Trump sneaks off to call Putin, gets caught, and his aide’s answer is to attack the press. Not leadership—just servitude dressed as toughness.”

Additional commenters called her response “dim-minded” and claimed, "What a dumb way to answer a question god I am so over this dim minded administration."

“It’s hard for Karoline to answer legit questions," an X user quipped.

One summed it up bluntly, “Only a lying press secretary would answer like that.”

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