'Unflattering' press sec photo scrubbed from internet in 'remarkable chain of events'

Thomas Kika
6h

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a press briefing at the White House, in Washington, D.C., December 11, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

An unflattering photo of Trump Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was pulled from circulation this week, per a report from Status, after the White House made its displeasure known.

While the report about its removal first emerged on Tuesday, the photo itself dates back to a press briefing in late November, just before Thanksgiving. During the meeting with reporters and photographers, Leavitt entered the room holding her young son, Nicholas, and introduced a turkey named Waddle, who would be taking part in the traditional turkey pardoning ceremony with President Donald Trump. This prompted a playful round of questioning — “Waddle, why are you getting a pardon? What did you do wrong?” — and flurry of photographs.

"Among those many pictures of the Thanksgiving spectacle was one in particular that incensed the White House — setting off a remarkable chain of events, with the image ultimately being pulled from the AFP and Getty Images wire photo libraries..." Status explained in its report.

The photo in question, taken by AFP photographer Andrew Caballero-Reynolds, was shot from a low angle and features Leavitt smiling as she holds her son. Waddle the turkey can be seen, slightly blurry in the foreground. Available reports on the situation have not clarified what about the photo prompted Leavitt and the White House to lash out against it as "unflattering."

Whatever motivated the displeasure, the White House eventually reached out to AFP, which confirmed to Status that it was "made aware" that the administration was unhappy with the photo and removed it from circulation. This also resulted in it automatically being removed from Getty Images.

AFP’s director of brand and communications, Grégoire Lemarchand, stressed that the decision to remove the photo was "an internal editorial one, based on our standard quality and selection criteria," and that there was no pressure from the White House to do so, despite its unhappiness over the snapshot of Leavitt.

“During high-volume events like White House briefings, our desk often receives a large influx of photos directly from the photographer’s camera, which are moved quickly by the editor on duty to ensure timely delivery,” Lemarchand told Status.

This marks the second recent incident in which a prominent member of the Trump administration reportedly lashed out at an unflattering photo. Earlier this month, photographers were barred from attending Pentagon press briefings, allegedly as a reaction to photos of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that he was unhappy with.

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