MUST-SEE: Karoline Leavitt Annihilates Kaitlan Collins After ‘Gotcha’ Question About US Casualties

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was involved in a heated back-and-forth with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins after the latter took quotes from War Secretary Pete Hegseth out of context.

The exchange stemmed from Hegseth’s comments during a Pentagon briefing on the same day. In that briefing, Hegseth addressed media coverage of U.S. military operations against Iran, known as Operation Epic Fury.

“We control their fate. But when a few drones get through or tragic things happen it’s front page news. I get it, the press only wants to make the president look bad, but try for once to report the reality,” he said. “The terms of this war will be set by us at every step.”

Hegseth was speaking in reference to an Iranian strike on a U.S. military installation in Kuwait, which killed six American service members and wounded several others. The attack occurred in the early hours of the operation at a staging area.

During the subsequent White House briefing, Collins raised the issue. She accused Hegseth of complaining that coverage of the deaths was front-page news, a characterization that Leavitt rejected.

“That’s not what the secretary said and you know it. You know you’re being disingenuous,” Leavitt snapped back. Collins followed up by quoting Hegseth, “He said, ‘tragic things happen. It’s front page news,'” she said, at which point Leavitt once again accused her of taking the remarks out of context.

At that point, the press secretary erupted into a lengthy critique of CNN and the network’s longtime slant against the Trump Administration.

“The press only wants to make the president look bad, especially you and especially CNN! The Secretary of War cares deeply about warfighters, he travels everywhere to meet and connect with them, your network has probably hardly ever reported that,” Leavitt continued.

“You and your network know that you take every single thing this administration says and tries to use it to make the president look bad. That is an objective fact. If you’re trying to argue right now that CNN’s overwhelming coverage is not negative of President Donald Trump?! I think the American people would tend to agree, and your ratings would tend to disagree with that as well!”

The briefing occurred amid heightened attention on U.S. military actions in the region. Earlier in the day, Hegseth and other Pentagon officials provided updates on progress against Iranian capabilities while acknowledging the casualties.

U.S. officials also released new footage of the strikes on Iranian targets, including the sinking of an Iranian naval vessel off the coast of Sri Lanka. Hegseth noted that Iranian air and missile defenses had been severely degraded and were expected to lead to complete air superiority for allied forces in the coming days.

The Trending Politics News app is your home for breaking updates. Download it FREE today!