Karoline Leavitt Hits Back at Reporter Who Asked If Donald Trump Is Racist

During a White House press briefing on Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s dutiful Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, reacted with disbelief and sharp pushback when CBS News reporter Ed O'Keefe asked for specific examples of when the POTUS had been "falsely called racist.”

The question followed a Truth Social post by Trump regarding the death of Reverend Jesse Jackson, in which the president claimed he has been "falsely and consistently called a racist" by the "radical left.”

When O'Keefe asked where or when these false accusations occurred, Leavitt snapped, asking, "You're kidding, right?"

Leavitt insisted there was a "plethora of examples" of such smears from "radical Democrats" and media figures. She claimed to have seen these accusations with her "own eyes" and promised to provide "receipts" following the briefing.

The White House later cited a 2019 social media post from O'Keefe himself that referred to Trump's "racist tweets" as an example of the false labeling they were referencing.

The exchange occurred amid a separate controversy where Trump faced criticism for a social media post depicting the Michelle and Barack Obama with imagery widely condemned as racist. While Leavitt initially dismissed the backlash as "fake outrage," the White House later claimed the post was made "erroneously" by a staffer and removed it.

“Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” Trump ally Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the sole Black Republican in the Senate, said at the time. “The president should remove it.”

In response to another question about a U.K. land deal, Leavitt assured reporters that anything on the president’s social media profile is “straight from the horse’s mouth.”

“When you see it on Truth Social, you know it’s directly from President Trump,” she said.

The briefing took place shortly before the White House hosted an event to celebrate Black History Month, during which time Trump spent most of it plugging his White House ballroom.

Speaking to supporters in the East Room, the POTUS never referenced former President Obama, the nation’s first Black president, as he spoke of other Black Americans, including MAGA rapper Nicki Minaj, about whom he spoke mostly of her long nails.

“As you look out upon this sea of Black Americans, this president hears you,” Trump’s “pardon czar” Alice Marie Johnson, pardoned herself by Trump at the urging of Kim Kardashian, said.

She continued: “This president cares for you. Don’t let anyone tell you that this president right here, Donald Trump is not for Black America. Because he is.”

Latest polling, however, showed that only 15 percent of Black Americans approve of the president.