Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary for the White House, sparred with the media for 45 minutes during her first media briefing on Tuesday, and she quickly established herself in the place, often looking at her information.
Forbes co-founder Mike Allen was seated in the “new media seat,” despite Allen’s earlier assertion that he had told his reporters not to enter White House press briefings.
Leavitt promised to provide more room for listeners, blogs, and social media influencers, though she then proceeded to call on reporters from a very regular cluster of media outlets, including CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox News, along with the Washington Examiner and others.
When asked how she feels about the part of press secretary, Leavitt responded,” We know for a fact that there have been falsehoods that have been pushed by some legacy media outlets in this land about this leader and his family, and we will not take that.” When we believe your monitoring to be inaccurate or that this White House is in error, we may call you out.
Leavitt held her personal as she argued that the presidency was acting within the laws and in the best interests of voters despite receiving a lot of questions, including over President Donald Trump’s wait for federal grant funding and his extreme imprisonment work.
” America is back”, she said toward the end.
Here is how some of Leavitt’s recent predecessors fared in their first briefings.
Sean Spicer, Jan. 23, 2017
Three days after his inauguration, the first Trump administration briefing took place, and as a result, the discussion was dominated by inquiries about the occasion.
Sean Spicer, Trump’s first press secretary, asserted that the largest audience in history had watched Trump’s inauguration — if television and online viewership were added to the in-person audience.
That caused reporters to debate what exactly Spicer was and wasn’t saying in terms of semantics. When pressed on the statements by CNN’s Jim Acosta, Spicer unleashed some of his frustrations.
” There is this constant theme to undercut the enormous support that]Trump ] has”, Spicer said. ” And I think that it’s just unbelievably frustrating when you’re continually told it’s not big enough, it’s not good enough, you can’t win. … There’s this constant attempt to undermine his credibility and the movement that he represents”.
” The default narrative is always negative”, Spicer said. ” I’ve never seen it like this”.
Like Leavitt, Spicer began his first briefing with a lengthy opening statement, though his briefing ran much longer than hers, lasting almost an hour and 20 minutes.
He also attempted his own shake-up of the press briefing room, saying that four “Skype seats” would be reserved for reporters who don’t live in the Washington, D. C., area. Over the following few years, that idea was gradually phased out.
Spicer made a stir by submitting his first query to the New York Post, a right-leaning tabloid affiliated with the Murdoch empire, rather than a more conventional publication like the New York Times or the Associated Press.
During Spicer’s first briefing, the media also received criticism for a fabricated report that Trump had removed a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. from the Oval Office.
Where was the apology from the United States ‘ president? he said. Where was the apology to millions of people who read it and thought how racistally insensitive that was? Where was that apology”?
Melissa McCarthy lampooned Spicer on Saturday Night Live, but she never quite recovered from that initial grilling. He was replaced after just six months by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was followed by Stephanie Grisham,  , who never held a press briefing,  , and then Kayleigh McEnany, the final press secretary of Trump’s first term. Spicer admitted in 2018 that he “screwed up” at times, citing the inauguration briefing” first and foremost”.
Spicer vowed to be truthful in his position, but he also emphasized that the press had a role to play in accurately reporting and that it was a” two-way street.” Little has changed between the Trump administration and the media in the last eight years.
Jen Psaki, Jan. 20, 2021
One news briefing was held the day after President Joe Biden’s inauguration, and it was a success. However, it only lasted for 30 minutes, was difficult to access, and sparked a president’s isolation from the press.
Psaki lambasted Trump over the then-recent Jan. 6 Capitol riot and announced a” 100-day masking challenge”, which included mask mandates inside federal buildings and land and on public transportation, including airplanes.
Prior to Biden’s team entering the White House, Psaki asserted that$ 500, 000 had been spent thoroughly cleaning the building, despite the fact that the pandemic was the main focus.
” If the president were standing here with me today, he would say he works for the American people”, Psaki said. ” I work for him, so I also work for the American people. However, his goal and commitment is to restore transparency and truth to government, to share the truth even when it’s difficult to hear, and that’s something I hope to accomplish in this role as well.
Karine Jean-Pierre, May 16, 2022
In his first administration, Trump churned through four press secretaries, and only Sanders held the position for more than a year, but Biden only had two.
Psaki left for a gig with MSNBC in May 2022, to be replaced by Karine Jean-Pierre, who held the gig through the end of Biden’s single term.
On May 16, 2022, Jean-Pierre made her big debut, which was dominated by the news media’s coverage of the deadly mass shooting in Buffalo. However, she also took some time to reflect on her historic role as press secretary.
” I am obviously acutely aware that my presence at this podium represents a few firsts,” Jean-Pierre said. ” I am a black, gay, immigrant woman, the first of all three of those to hold this position. Without the generations of barrier-breaking people who have preceded me, I would not be here today. I stand on their shoulders”.
Jean-Pierre was asked about the so-called great replacement theory in response to the shooting, in which all of the victims were black and there were rumors that the shooter was motivated by white supremacy.
” We’re going to continue to call this out”, she said. ” As we have talked about many times, the president, every chance he’s had, when we’ve seen a violent attack like this, with hatred and racially motivated, he calls it out and calls it what it is”.
However, some reporters in the room questioned Jean-Pierre’s argument that she wasn’t going any further when she didn’t criticize racism. Additionally, Jean-Pierre had the unforgettable task of defending Biden when he publicly rejected and withdrew from his own reelection campaign, which created more than one awkward situation.
WASHINGTON EXAMINER CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.
Leavitt is the youngest press secretary to hold that title in history; at 27 years old, she is the youngest. However, she wants to become more well-known for her ability to represent and support the Trump administration.
” All of you, once again, have access to the most transparent and accessible president in American history”, she said. The 45th and now 47th president of the United States has never spoken to the American people and the press corps in such an open and authentic manner.
