'Coward': Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Mocked for Ignoring Questions About Trump Cabinet Chat Leak

President Donald Trump's Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was ridiculed on social media for blowing up on CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins over questions surrounding the recent leaked group chat involving several Trump cabinet members.

During the press briefing, Collins asked, "Since we have these messages released and you have said that the president had now personally reviewed them in the chat — at one point Pete Hegseth had wrote ‘1415: Strike Drones on Target,’ and then he wrote in all caps, he said, ‘THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP.’ Does the president feel that he was misled by his national security advisers, whoever it was that told him there was no classified information in there, now that he’s seen those messages?”

The question seemed to draw the ire of the 27-year-old, who blew up at the CNN reporter. "I have now been asked and answered this question three times by the both of you," she said while indicating another reporter. "And I have given you my answer. The president feels the same as he did yesterday."

Collins attempted to ask the press secretary a follow-up question, but was swiftly cut off by Leavitt, who called on another reporter in the room.

"Kaitlan, I am not taking your follow-up," Leavitt told the White House correspondent.

Several critics shared clips from the White House press briefing showing the contentious interaction between the press secretary and Collins.

One user on X, formerly known as Twitter, wrote: "An amateur tries to muzzle a professional. This clumsy attempt to control the narrative will have the opposite impact. Such obvious attempts almost always do."

Another X user commented: "Leavitt refusing a follow-up question? Must be nice to have a job where you can dodge accountability at will."

A third person shared: "Coward. Leavitt should say, ‘I’m only taking easy questions from Fox News.'"

Defense Secretary Hegseth shared detailed secret plans for a U.S. strike on Iran-backed militants in Yemen with a group chat of top Trump administration officials that accidentally included an editor from The Atlantic.

The leak, made by officials using the publicly available encrypted Signal messaging app, raised alarming questions about the potential mishandling of national security information, which federal law dictates should only be shared through the government's own approved secure platforms and has led to several individuals from the chat having to testify in front of Congress.