White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt clashed openly with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins during Wednesday’s White House briefing, as tensions over media coverage of American military casualties erupted on live television.
The confrontation centered on remarks made by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who accused journalists of attempting to damage the president’s image by spotlighting the deaths of six U.S. service members.
The troops were killed in an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait, occurring just days after President Donald Trump launched a military campaign designated “Operation Epic Fury.”
Collins, 33, asked Leavitt directly whether the administration believed the press should refrain from prominently reporting on the deaths of American troops engaged in Trump’s military operations in the Middle East.
Leavitt, 28, responded sharply: “That’s not what the secretary said, Kaitlan…and you know it.”
She continued: “You and your network know that you take every single thing this administration says and try to use it to make the president look bad.”
Collins pushed back, stating: “I don’t think covering troop deaths is trying to make the president look bad.”
Leavitt did not back down, firing back at Collins: “If you’re trying to argue right now that CNN’s overwhelming coverage is not negative of President Trump, I think the American people would tend to disagree, and your ratings would tend to disagree with that as well.”
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The exchange between the two women is far from new. Collins has covered Trump’s presidency and his three presidential campaigns for close to a decade, and her questioning has produced on-camera clashes on multiple occasions.
In November, Collins pressed Leavitt over Trump’s characterization of a video in which six Democratic lawmakers—all military veterans—told members of the military and intelligence community: “You can refuse illegal orders.”
Leavitt told reporters on multiple occasions at the time that the lawmakers were urging the military to refuse “lawful orders.”
In December, Collins questioned Leavitt again, this time over the president’s economic record.
Leavitt maintained that the press corps was applying more scrutiny to her than it had to her predecessors during the Biden administration.
Despite their clashes at the podium, Leavitt intervened on Collins’ behalf during a presidential trip to Saudi Arabia after Saudi Royal Guard officials moved to bar Collins from a press event.
The incident followed an exchange Collins had with Trump in front of the Saudi leader.
Collins later described the reaction: “They kind of freaked out because I dared to ask a question,” adding, “They’re not used to that there, because they don’t have a free press.”
After officials exited the room, Collins was told she would not be permitted to attend the next event. White House staff alerted Leavitt, who stepped in to reverse the decision.
Collins recalled Leavitt’s intervention, saying: “To her credit, she said: ‘No, Kaitlan is coming in with the rest of the US press.’”
Collins noted: “I do think it’s important in that moment, especially when you’re kind of the US contingent abroad, and we don’t do things like they do in Saudi Arabia.”
The broader context for Wednesday’s briefing clash is an expanding U.S. military conflict. Trump’s campaign against Iran has widened into a broader regional confrontation following the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Iranian forces have launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes targeting U.S. military installations, Israel, and several Gulf nations in response.
The United States and Israel were preparing to intensify bombing operations over Iran on Wednesday. Hegseth stated: “Four days in we have only just begun,” adding that with “complete control of the skies,” U.S. forces would deploy “500-pound, 1,000-pound and 2,000-pound GPS and laser-guided precision gravity bombs of which we have a nearly unlimited stockpile.”
Hegseth stated the campaign opened with “exquisite standoff munitions” — sophisticated long-range weapons built to strike beyond enemy air defense range — and pushed back against reports of strained supplies, saying “our stockpile of those remains extremely strong.”
