Karoline Leavitt attacks as she's put on spot over Trump U-turn
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pivoted to attacking the media Tuesday after being confronted with two statements put out by the Trump administration that appear to stand at complete odds with each other.
Last June, the Trump administration carried out “Operation Midnight Hammer,” a covert attack on three Iranian nuclear facilities that the president proudly boasted had successfully “obliterated” Tehran’s nuclear program. And yet, Trump administration special envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News on Saturday that Iran was “probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material.”
Speaking to reporters Tuesday just outside the White House, Leavitt was asked bluntly by a reporter how the Trump administration could “square those two statements” together. Her response was to back President Donald Trump’s claim, and instead of addressing Witkoff’s remarks, attack the media for its use of anonymous sources.
“Operation Midnight Hammer was an overwhelmingly successful mission that did, in fact, obliterate Iran's nuclear facilities… That does not mean that Iran may never try again to establish a nuclear program that could directly threaten the United States and our allies abroad, and that's what the president wants to ensure can never happen again,” Leavitt said.
“And just one more note with respect to Iran: President Trump's first option is always diplomacy. I've seen a lot of sensationalist reporting over the past day that is just completely untrue, and anyone speculating to the media hiding behind an anonymous source pretending to know what President Trump is thinking or a decision he will make with respect to action against Iran has no idea what they're talking about!”
Leavitt’s comments come amid a colossal buildup of U.S. military forces near Iran, the largest mobilization since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Reporting suggests Trump appears ready to “pull the trigger” on launching an attack on Iran at any moment, with the Trump administration’s efforts to negotiate for Iran to reduce its weapon capabilities having stalled.