White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 15, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Reporters appeared to trigger White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt during the briefing on Thursday, snapping at two reporters who asked questions she found offensive.
Trump told an alleged "joke" about canceling the election when speaking with a Reuters reporter. One question from a reporter in the press room was whether Trump thinks democracy is "funny" and canceling elections is amusing.
"Americans for generations have fought and died for democracy, for this democracy," the reporter said.
"Andrew, were you in the room? No you weren't. I was in the room. I heard the conversation. And only someone like you would take that so seriously and pose it a question in that way," Leavitt snapped.
Another reporter asked a quick question until another one appeared to set her off even more.
"Earlier, you were just defending ICE agents generally, and earlier on, Secretary [Kristi] Noem spoke to the media and she said, among other things, that they are doing everything correctly. And 32 people died in ICE custody last year, 170 U.S. citizens were detained by ICE, and Renee Good was shot in the head and killed by an ICE agent. How does that equate to them doing everything correctly?"
Leavitt refused to answer his question, instead asking for his personal opinion. Once he told her that he thinks the ICE agent overreacted, Leavitt lashed out.
"Oh, okay. So you're a biased reporter with a left-wing opinion," she said. "Yeah, because you're a left wing hack. You're not a reporter. You're posing in this room as a journalist. And it's so clear by the premise of your question — and you and the people in the media who have such biases but fake like you're a journalist, you shouldn't even be sitting in that seat, but you're pretending that you're a journalist, but you're a left wing activist.
She continued: "And the question that you just raised in your answer proves your bias. You should be reporting on the facts. You should be reporting on the cases. Do you have the numbers of how many American citizens were killed at the hands of illegal aliens? Who ICE is trying to remove from this country? I bet you don't — I bet you didn't even read up on those stories. I bet you never even read about Laken Riley or Jocelyn, or all of the innocent Americans who were killed at the hands of illegal aliens in this country."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection numbers show that 23 people were killed either by or involving an undocumented immigrant in 2025. Deaths of people in custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reached 32 people in 2025. It marks the highest level in two decades, The Guardian reported recently.
Leavitt continued: "And the brave men and women of ICE are doing everything in their power to remove those heinous individuals and make our communities safer. And shame on people like you in the media who have a crooked view — and have a biased view and pretend like you're a real, honest journalist."
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