Controversial Karoline Leavitt Moments That Tarnished Her Reputation

Tuesday, January 28, 2025 was a big day for Karoline Leavitt. She held her first press conference as White House press secretary — the youngest person to hold that title in U.S. history. Leavitt was hired as a spokesperson for Donald Trump in 2024 before getting a job upgrade when the billionaire re-entered the White House for his second term as President.

At only 27 years old, the New Hampshire native has already made plenty of headlines in her career so far, though maybe not for the achievements she wanted publicly recognized. From exposing her own hypocritical behavior surrounding voter fraud, to misusing campaign donations, to getting kicked off a news show mid-air because of hostile behavior, Leavitt doesn't need her adversaries to tarnish her reputation; she is more than capable of doing that all by herself. Not only can the new White House press secretary not escape plastic surgery rumors, she also can't avoid negative press stories about both her and her boss.

Like many people, Karoline Leavitt had some opinions about what happened during the January 6 riots at the Capitol, but she broke the first rule of politics: don't actually share your true inner thoughts online. She retweeted a video of then-Vice President Mike Pence making a statement about the riots, calling them "a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol." The original poster of the tweet also wrote how Pence "was a steady hand through the chaos that ensued at our Capitol yesterday. Love him or hate him, he kept the wheels of democracy moving & pushed forward to certify his own loss."

Clearly, Leavitt had to remove that tweet before doing an interview with One America News Network several months later, discussing how the Democrats stole the election. "I'm the only candidate in this race to say that President Trump won in 2020, and I will work my hardest every single day to make sure we get to the bottom of it." Talk about a 180 degree turn in viewpoint!

But Leavitt didn't stop there. Not long after that interview, Leavitt did another one with WKXL, saying if all 50 states were audited, the results would prove that Joe Biden did not actually win. "We [republicans] feel as though this election was taken away from us," she said (via CNN).

Back in September 2022, about a year after Karoline Leavitt told One America News Network that the election was stolen from Donald Trump, she won the Republican primary for New Hampshire's first congressional district. Or, did she? Granite Memo spoke with Leavitt after she was projected the winner. The reporter bluntly asked Leavitt how she knew she won this election, but so passionately claims Trump's election was rigged in Joe Biden's favor. "Can you share with voters why you're confident that tonight's vote was legitimate for your victory?"

Instead of taking the opportunity to explain how she knew she won — which the reporter also believed to be true, but wanted to hear Leavitt's thoughts in her own words — Leavitt stopped the interview, clearly annoyed. She did mutter, "The results prove it," before leaving, but the fact that she seemed so frazzled by a question about voter fraud, when she has been complaining about it for a year, isn't a great look. Why do the results prove Leavitt won, but they don't prove Biden won? Leavitt missed an opportunity, which made her look like a total hypocrite.

Though Karoline Leavitt won the primary for New Hampshire's first congressional district, she lost the general election to incumbent Chris Pappas in 2022. However, in January 2025, it was revealed that Leavitt's campaign allegedly spent $200,000 in contributions that were over the legal donation limit (via NOTUS). While Leavitt could technically accept money over the legal limit, she would then have to pay back the contributors within about a two-month time period — which she reportedly never did.

The pay discrepancy only came to light years after the campaign, because Leavitt never filed the excessive donations at the time; the findings were revealed after the campaign amended its financial reports. Of course, the amendments weren't done out of guilt or the goodness of Leavitt's heart. They happened after a Federal Election Commission (FEC) inquiry was opened.

For someone who enjoys pointing the finger at others and saying how they cheated, it's interesting to learn Leavitt should probably be taking a long, hard look at herself instead.

In October 2024, Karoline Leavitt stopped by "Fox & Friends" to discuss Donald Trump's dull rally at Madison Square Garden. When asked how the event went, she mentioned how wonderful and energetic the crowd was. However, Leavitt was also questioned about the controversial comment comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made during his set at the event, which involved calling Puerto Rico a "floating pile of garbage" (via Mediaite).

Leavitt explained, "Look, it was a comedian who made a joke in poor taste. Obviously, that joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or our campaign." She then went on to condemn the media for focusing on that one moment from the rally, instead of anything remotely positive that happened.

The New Hampshire native also noted how the crowd at the rally was a diverse group of people from different ethnicities. "The crowd, they didn't mind [the joke]," she said, explaining that people were at the rally because they support Trump as a person and his beliefs. Unless she polled the entire crowd, Leavitt doesn't actually know if the audience was fine with the joke or not.

Shortly before the presidential debate between Donald Trump and then-President Joe Biden in June 2024, Karoline Leavitt spoke with CNN anchor Kasie Hunt. But during the interview, Hunt bluntly told Leavitt, "Ma'am, we're going to stop this interview if you're going to keep attacking my colleagues," referring to fellow CNN anchor Jake Tapper, who was a moderator for the debate (via New York Post). Despite the warning, Leavitt didn't break stride and was ultimately booted off CNN.

Instead of discussing Trump, which is what Leavitt was supposed to do, as Hunt pointed out, Leavitt continued to bad-mouth Tapper instead. Attacking a debate moderator — before the debate even happens — is not a great look. Leavitt came across as rude and hostile, which ultimately made Trump look bad on her behalf. Leavitt had an opportunity to hype up her conservative candidate on a liberal-leaning news outlet, but decided to go the schoolyard route by trying to smear Tapper's name.