Karoline Leavitt Dodges Question About Donald Trump Accepting Upcoming Election Results

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt refused to say that President Donald Trump will accept the midterm election results. When asked point-blank by reporters during a White House press briefing on Thursday, July 16, Leavitt declined to provide a direct "yes" or "no" answer and instead deflected the question.

CBS News correspondent Ed O'Keefe asked Leavitt directly if the president would accept the results of the upcoming November midterm elections.

Leavitt dodged the inquiry, telling the reporter, "You should tune in to the president's speech tonight before you jump ahead to conclusions."

“Look, Ed, you should tune in to the president’s speech tonight before you jump ahead to conclusions about what’s in the speech. Again, I’ve seen a lot of reporting and misreporting about what the president will say. We hope CBS will take the speech, and all Americans should take it,” she snapped.

The briefing preceded a national primetime address by Trump re-airing grievances about the 2020 election.

CNN star Kaitlan Collins pressed Leavitt on the forthcoming speech, asking, “Regarding the president’s speech tonight, he’s been in office over 540 days now. If what he says tonight is backed up by evidence, why hasn’t anyone been charged?”

“Well, he hasn’t revealed it yet; he hasn’t declassified the documents yet,” Leavitt said. “And you will see what he says tonight, and then we’ll move forward appropriately from there.”

“From the Justice Department?” Collins asked, and Leavitt shot back, “I don’t speak on behalf of the Justice Department, Kaitlan, you know that.”

“Will there be charges?” Collins pressed.

“You’ll have to ask the Justice Department. I don’t charge people. I just speak on behalf of the president,” Leavitt said.

Following that speech, which several networks refused to air, critics and political opponents heavily panned it as an exercise in "whining" and dwelling on the past, while former intelligence officials labeled the framing of the declassified election documents as highly misleading and dangerous.

While Leavitt sidestepped the midterms question, Vice President J.D. Vance stated to reporters on Capitol Hill, "Of course we're gonna support the results of the midterm elections."

Trump has primarily used his public statements to question U.S. election integrity, asserting without evidence that Democrats can only win the upcoming 2026 midterm elections if they cheat.

In his address from the White House, Trump claimed the American voting system suffers from "shocking vulnerabilities" and revived claims of foreign interference to pressure lawmakers into shifting election rules before November.

Democrats are favored to retake the House of Representatives, but the Senate remains an uphill battle. Forecasters like Decision Desk HQ project a highly competitive split, indicating a likely Democratic House majority alongside a tightly contested 50-50 Senate.