Karoline Leavitt, President Trump's spokeswoman, clashed with PBS NewsHour correspondent Garrett in a press briefing exchange over the president's refusal to move past the 2020 election, telling him to cover Trump's upcoming speech "with a little bit of honesty and a little bit of integrity."
The confrontation centered on the president's continuing focus on elections past rather than upcoming. Garrett pressed Leavitt on why Trump remains fixated on 2020, noting the election has had dozens of recounts, lawsuits, and audits, while the 2024 election was widely believed to be safe and secure. Leavitt pushed back, saying "part of the problem is that the media has refused to acknowledge that tens of millions of Americans across the country share the concerns of this president about the sanctity of our elections."
She accused Garrett of "jumping ahead to a conclusion in this speech before even hearing it yourself," urging the press corps to tune in to the president's address and report on the "findings that he is going to reveal."
you should report on the president's speech and the findings that he is going to reveal in this speech with a little bit of honesty and a little bit of integrity
Leavitt said the speech's contents "will shock you if you have an honest eye listening to the president tonight," and that "everything he is saying will be backed by facts and by evidence that will be provided this evening."
She tied the speech to the Save America Act, calling it "a key legislative priority for this president on Capitol Hill," and said Trump wants all senators and members of Congress voting in favor of it because "it's crucially important as we move forward." She argued Americans across party lines should agree the United States should have "the safest and most secure elections in the history of the world," while suggesting the speech would show "perhaps that is not the case."
The exchange was covered by PBS NewsHour, CNN, Fox News, LiveNOW from FOX, and Reuters.
The question now is what evidence the president actually presents tonight.