White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a press briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 30, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was caught making an unbelievable claim that left at least one reporter calling her out.
Huffington Post White House correspondent S.V. Dáte cited Leavitt's explanation for President Donald Trump's decision to abandon the CPAC events over the weekend after speaking at them for a decade. This time around, not one member of Trump's family spoke at the conference.
Leavitt claimed it was because "It was best for the president's schedule and what he has on his plate right now not to go."
Dáte flattened the excuse, saying that Trump played golf in Florida all weekend.
The reality is that the Trump's may not be as welcome as they once were at the event.
On Friday, Chairman Matt Schlapp and the CPAC crowd were ridiculed after he asked them, “How many of you would like to see impeachment hearings?”
The crowd went wild with enthusiasm.
“No. That was the wrong answer,” he pivoted, seemingly embarrassed.
“How many of you would like to see impeachment hearings?” Schlapp tried to ask again.
“No,” he directed the crowd.
It wasn't the only problem. CPAC's guests were divided when it came to Trump's war with Iran. Administration officials were understandably supportive of the boss, while many at the event were furious that they had been misled into believing the U.S. would stop the "forever wars"when Trump promised it.
“A lot of people — conservatives, young conservatives right now, are kind of disillusioned with Trump, and I’d consider myself one of those,” Alexander Selby told CNN's Donie O'Sullivan.
"We have the right policies. We just need the resolve to see it through," Steve Bannon promised, while dismissing explanations for absent Trumps as merely being "tied up running wars."
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) was one of those who spoke out against Trump, despite being a longtime loyalist.
“I want President Trump to have every diplomatic tool at his disposal and I do trust that he knows a great deal more than I do,” he said during his speech on Thursday. “But a ground invasion of Iran will make our country poorer and less safe. It will mean higher gas prices, higher food prices and I’m not sure we’d end up killing more terrorists than we would create.”
