Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has strongly criticized her successor in the Trump administration, Karoline Leavitt, asserting that Leavitt transformed the White House briefing room into a "safe space" where difficult questions were avoided. Psaki, who served as press secretary for President Joe Biden from 2021 to May 2022, stated on MS NOW that the press secretary's role is intended to be adversarial, with reporters pushing for information.
"Karoline Leavitt didn’t want to engage in good faith with those reporters and their tough questions," Psaki said. "Instead, she did everything she could to reshape that briefing room into her own personal safe space where she rarely had to answer a tough question, hardly ever. I mean, she only briefed once or twice a week, max."
Leavitt, the youngest person to hold the press secretary role, recently announced her departure to focus on her family. Her tenure began when former President Donald Trump returned to office last year. Psaki also accused Leavitt of promoting a "new media" strategy that allegedly filled the briefing room with friendly podcasters and loyalists, leading to softball questions and praise for the administration.
Psaki argued that Leavitt's approach had consequences beyond alienating reporters, stating that the briefing room should be where the American people receive answers about their government. "And when an administration doesn’t take that responsibility seriously, the American people are the ones who pay the price," she said.
Psaki further accused Leavitt of repeatedly lying and serving only former President Trump, rather than the public. "It’s been about telling the version of the truth according to the serial liar who sits in the Oval Office. Reporters in the room don’t matter. The American people who rely on the reporting from the reporters in the room [don’t] matter, she’s never seen her job as working for the American people as a public servant," Psaki stated, adding that Leavitt had damaged the role.
However, the White House, through spokesman Davis Ingle, pushed back on Psaki's remarks. "Jen 'Circle Back' Psaki couldn’t hold a candle to Karoline Leavitt," Ingle told Fox News Digital.
Conversely, some White House correspondents and former officials have offered a different perspective on Leavitt's performance. Tricia McLaughlin, who served as assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, disagreed with Psaki's assessment. "I’ve seen coverage from the New York Times to even Newsweek and CNN that was pretty glowing about Karoline’s professionalism, how quickly she would get back to reporters, how she was actually in the room and had the information firsthand, which is so important for a press secretary to understand the policies, understand the president, where he is on the issues, and then be able to communicate that back to those reporter," McLaughlin told Fox News Digital.
Several White House reporters have also praised Leavitt upon her exit. One veteran White House correspondent told Fox News Digital that Leavitt was easier to work with than her predecessors from the Biden administration. "Karoline was the best press secretary I’ve ever worked with, and there have been many," the reporter said. "I think the reason she’s so effective is because she spent real time with Trump, as well as time understanding his policies and reasoning behind them." This reporter contrasted Leavitt with Biden's current press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, and Psaki, suggesting that while Psaki was a policy expert, she displayed disdain and arrogance toward the press, unlike Leavitt's more collaborative approach.