In a post on X, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Donald Trump didn't mix up Iceland with Greenland.
After a NewsNation reporter posted the comments from Trump's speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Leavitt reposted it, calling out the reporter directly.
"No, he didn’t, Libby (sic) [Dean]," the White House press secretary wrote on X. "His written remarks referred to Greenland as a 'piece of ice' because that’s what it is. You’re the only one mixing anything up here."
Even the conservative New York Post quoted Trump, in its story of the speech, saying, “Until the last few days when I told them about Iceland, they loved me." The Post added a note that Trump was "mistakenly naming a different frigid island settled by Scandinavians."
But one person commented that Leavitt was playing "semantics games." Her comment said "his written remarks," which likely never referred to Iceland. Trump's comments, as delivered for the Davos crowd, did reference "Iceland" multiple times.
CNN media analyst Brian Stelter agreed, "Intriguing: A NewsNation reporter pointed out that Trump 'appeared to mix up Greenland and Iceland around three times.' [Press secretary] now claims 'he didn't,' even though everyone heard him do it. But she's pointing to 'his written remarks' instead of the video."
Another social media observer noticed that the reporter's mentions were exploding with MAGA comments, "which of course is what Leavitt wanted."
Author Jesse Walker joked, "If Karoline Leavitt ever needs to subtly signal that she's been kidnapped, she'll alert us by saying something true."
"Pondering Politics" host Jessiah Eberlin said, "We're living in a MAGA-induced Orwellian hellscape where the press secretary is shamelessly lying over the dumbest shit imaginable[.] Not a clever lie, not a lie with room to breathe, just the dumbest s—— imaginable."
Journalist Robert Lusetich noted that Leavitt didn't spell the reporter's name correctly.
"This is incredibly pathetic, even for you," commented progressive commentator Brett Meiselas.
Political commentator John Aravosis, of the "Aravosis Report," posted, "White House now openly lying about Trump’s open confusion at Davos. Three times in one minute, Trump mistakenly confused Greenland with Iceland. Here’s the video."