'Said the same thing with more words': Press secretary’s Fox News fact-check backfires
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 22, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Daily Beast reports that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt bristled at Fox News' description of President Donald Trump sending U.S. troops to Israel to enforce a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian leaders.
Trump announced Wednesday that Israel and Hamas had “signed off on the first phase” of his plan to end the war in Gaza, which involves an exchange of hostages between Israeli and Palestine.
Fox News’ X account announced the victory on Thursday evening, posting, “BREAKING: U.S. troops headed to Israel to support historic peace deal.”
Leavitt took the framing of the message badly.
“This is NOT true and taken out of context,” Leavitt responded on X within an hour of the post. “To be clear: up to 200 U.S. personnel, who are already stationed at CENTCOM, will be tasked with monitoring the peace agreement in Israel, and they will work with other international forces on the ground.”
CENTCOM, also known as the United States Central Command, directs military operations in over the "central" area of the globe located between the European, Africa and Indo-Pacific Commands.
Commenters on social media demanded to know how her statement diverged from that of Fox News.
“So let’s get this straight — D.C. says ‘not true’ but then admits 200 U.S. personnel are being deployed to monitor Israel’s peace deal,” posted one critic. “Call it what you want — ‘monitoring,’ ‘support,’ ‘liaison’ — but it’s still U.S. boots on the ground in a foreign conflict. If this is ‘out of context,’ then the context is Americans once again being sent overseas while our own borders, streets, and vets get ignored.”
“You just said the same thing with more words,” said another X user.
“In a race to the bottom, there is no winner,” posted another.
Other comments suggest Leavitt may be legitimately wary of upsetting “America First” MAGA elements that comprise a sizable portion of Trump’s base.
“I did not vote for the George Bush/Dick Cheney and neoconservative agenda!” said one critic.
The Daily Beast reports Fox News appeared to catch on to the motive, posting “BREAKING: The U.S. plans to utilize up to 200 troops already in the middle east to help support and monitor the ceasefire deal in Gaza as part of a team involving various nations, a senior official told Fox News.”
Read the Daily Beast report at this link.
