The White House press secretary had several combative interactions with the press this week in the wake of ICE raids and impending US involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict

Karoline Leavitt said Donald Trump "promised to keep TikTok on, even though it was he who initially called for its ban in 2020.
Karoline Leavitt said Donald Trump “promised to keep TikTok on, even though it was he who initially called for its ban in 2020.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt brushed off a question from a reporter during her press conference Thursday about the president’s executive order further delaying the mandated ban or sale of social media app TikTok. The interaction came after a week of combative moments between her and the press over a number of issues relating to Donald Trump’s actions.

Eli Lake, a columnist with right-leaning online media platform The Free Press, asked Leavitt about Trump’s constitutional authority to delay the TikTok ban, which was upheld by the Supreme Court over national security concerns.

Leavitt responded, saying that her team finds legal rationale in delaying the ban, but did not directly answer the question about what that rationale is nor how the president justifies defying a Supreme Court ruling for the third time.

Karoline Leavitt did not answer the reporter's question about the legality of defying the Supreme Court order for the third time.
Karoline Leavitt did not answer the reporter’s question about the legality of defying the Supreme Court order for the third time.

The political reasoning for the executive order, she continued, is “because the president made a promise to keep TikTok on.” It was Trump, however, who had initially called for banning TikTok in 2020. He switched his stance during his 2024 campaign when he made an account on the app and hosted the TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew, at his Florida estate.

Last week, during another White House press conference, Leavitt referred to a reporter’s question as “stupid.”

A reporter asked the press secretary about the then-upcoming military parade set to take place in Washington D.C. Saturday as a hybrid celebration of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army and Trump’s own 79th birthday. As members of the National Guard stood off with protestors in Los Angeles over escalating ICE immigration raids, the reporter clarified Trump’s stance on the concept of peaceful protesting.

“So if there were peaceful protests on Saturday for the military parade, President Trump would allow that?” she asked.

“Of course the president supports peaceful protest,” Leavitt replied. “What a stupid question.”

The query was based in Trump’s increasingly incendiary rhetoric about the largely peaceful Los Angeles protests, in which he claimed the city was “on fire” and resulted in the deployment of thousands of federal troops.

Trump has frequently attacked members of the media as having a left-wing bias and being “corrupt”, especially those that give him unfavorable coverage.