Jen Psaki, former press secretary for President Joe Biden, has criticized Karoline Leavitt, the outgoing press secretary for President Donald Trump, asserting that Leavitt did not engage in good faith with reporters and that the White House briefing room became a "personal safe space" where difficult questions were avoided. Psaki made these remarks on MS NOW, where she is a host.
Leavitt, the youngest person to hold the role, announced her departure from the Trump administration to focus on her family. She has served as press secretary since Trump took office last year. Her replacement has not yet been named.
Psaki contended that Leavitt's approach to the press briefings, which she claims occurred only once or twice a week, reshaped the briefing room. "The relationship between the press and the White House is supposed to be adversarial by design," Psaki said, adding that reporters are meant to push for more information and that press secretaries should appropriately push back. Psaki accused Leavitt of having "no interest in engaging in good faith with those reporters and their tough questions."
Psaki also took aim at Leavitt's "new media" initiative, suggesting it allowed Leavitt to fill the room with supportive voices and podcasters who asked "softball questions" or praised the president and Leavitt. According to Psaki, when an administration does not take the responsibility of answering the American people's questions seriously, "the American people are the ones who pay the price."
Psaki further claimed that Leavitt repeatedly lied in her role and served only President Trump, rather than the American 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, suggesting Leavitt had damaged the role.
In response to Psaki's comments, a White House spokesman told Fox News Digital, "Jen 'Circle Back' Psaki couldn't hold a candle to Karoline Leavitt."
Conversely, several White House correspondents have praised Leavitt upon her exit announcement. One veteran reporter 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, attributing Leavitt's effectiveness to her time with Trump and understanding of his policies. The same reporter contrasted Leavitt with Biden's press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who "didn’t do either" policy understanding or working with reporters, and with Psaki, whose "flaw was that she looked at the press with disdain."