White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt let her guard down last week during a joint interview with President Donald Trump for the conservative outlet Daily Caller. What started as a conversation about the media quickly turned into a candid exchange about CBS anchor Margaret Brennan, host of Face the Nation.
“The woman on Face the Nation is so bad… Margaret Brennan. What do you think of her?” Trump asked Leavitt mid-interview. Without hesitation, Leavitt shot back, “She’s stupid. You can put that on the record.”
Trump didn’t hold back either, chiming in, “She’s nasty.” Leavitt quickly agreed with a simple, “Yes.”
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The moment caught attention because Leavitt, who is typically more polished in public, seemed unfiltered while speaking alongside the president. For Trump, taking aim at journalists is nothing new, but his press secretary openly joining in struck some as unusual, especially given her devout Christian background and reputation for discipline.
The conversation shifted when Trump brought up Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who he praised as “good” and “smart” for how he “handled” Brennan. Trump appeared to be referencing Brennan’s earlier tough interviews with Rubio this year, when she pressed him hard on U.S. intelligence that justified a strike on Iran’s nuclear sites and later grilled him about Vice President JD Vance’s controversial speech at the Munich Security Conference.
Those exchanges between Rubio and Brennan drew headlines at the time, with Rubio trying to defend administration policy under sharp questioning. Trump’s remarks suggest he saw Rubio’s pushback as a win and an example of how his team should handle tough media moments.
The bluntness of Leavitt’s comments stood out in part because she rarely veers off her prepared lines. Supporters saw it as her being real, unafraid to back up Trump in the same blunt way he goes after critics. Detractors argued it was another example of the White House dismissing journalists instead of addressing tough questions.
Either way, the clip from the Daily Caller interview traveled fast, sparking chatter online about the increasingly combative relationship between the administration and mainstream outlets like CBS. For Brennan, who has weathered sharp critiques before, it was another reminder of how polarizing her role can be as one of the few journalists consistently putting top officials on the spot in high-profile interviews.
Trump, for his part, seemed energized by the exchange. He has long used media criticism as a rallying point with his base, framing confrontations with journalists as proof that his administration won’t back down. Having his press secretary echo his language only underscored how tightly aligned the messaging is between Trump and his closest aides.
As the administration continues navigating foreign policy challenges and election-year pressures, moments like this show how media battles remain central to Trump’s political strategy. Whether the comment was a slip or a calculated echo of Trump’s style, Leavitt’s blunt assessment of Brennan gave people plenty to talk about.