Read the full transcript of Trump Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s interview by Mercedes Schlapp at CPAC 2025 on Feb 21, 2025.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: All right. It’s so great to have you here. Okay, so is this your first time at CPAC?
KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is not my first time at CPAC. In fact, last year when I was at CPAC, we were on the campaign trail with President Trump. I was doing media row, and I was pregnant with my child. I was wearing this big blazer, and now I have a seven-month-old baby, and we’re at the White House. So, it’s been a good year.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: Well, for me, it’s an honor to be with you and be able to interview you. I do feel you’re kind of like my kid sister. And I do know that blondes have more fun, because my younger sister is also blonde. But, you know, I gotta ask you, you know, we’re 31 days in to this administration, this historic Trump administration. What’s the President’s mood?
President Trump’s Mood and Administration’s Approach
KAROLINE LEAVITT: Jubilant, excited, exhilarated, and defiant. And the President is not backing down. We’ve seen judges in courts acting like judicial activists. We have Democrats who are hooting and hollering outside of empty federal office buildings because we want to simply cut fraud, waste, and abuse from our federal government. And we are not going to be deterred. The President will not be deterred. He is going to continue moving forward, delivering on the promises he made. And look at 30 days. The golden age of America has begun, and we’re just getting started.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: Alright, give an insight into, you know, when you walk into the Oval Office, President Trump is there. He presses his button to get his Diet Coke, which is one of the coolest things. And then he sometimes will ask you, do you want one too? And so, and you really don’t say no, even if you don’t like Diet Coke. Guys, I’m sorry, you don’t say no. But, you know, when he comes to you and he says, “Karoline, this is what we need to say.” I mean, give us an insight as to one of those instances that you can recall that you were like, wow, okay, he’s really in charge, we’ve got to get this done.
KAROLINE LEAVITT: Yeah, I mean, every single day. The President, he jokes. Every single day. He’s our, he’s the President of the United States, he’s also the Communications Director of the White House because he dictates the message, he executes the agenda. You know, one of the things I love about President Trump, and I think what makes him such a great leader, is that he’s so deeply involved in every decision that is made, every speech that is written, every executive order that is signed. Where most politicians, you just hand them the script and they read it, President Trump cares about every word he is saying and every action he is taking.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: To the point of putting the period or exclamation point, right?
KAROLINE LEAVITT: For the capitalization of a random word, that too.
Women in the Trump Administration
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: Okay, that’s a good one as well. You know, but I’ve got to ask you, because Mark Rubin, that guy, I don’t know, he makes money or whatever, he said that there isn’t, he made that comment during the campaign about there’s no stronger intelligent women around Donald Trump. Those strong and intelligent women, I think, are the most critical, one of the most critical parts of the White House. Definitely. And how he listens to the women. Tell us about that.
KAROLINE LEAVITT: Absolutely. Look at the White House and look at the exceptional cabinet that President Trump has put together. Who loves the cabinet team that President Trump has put together? It’s amazing. It’s amazing. And while we don’t care about identity politics, you brought it up, and it’s true. The President has appointed Suzy Wiles, who is our first female Chief of Staff in United States history. Brooke Rollins cutting up the Secretary, she’s our Secretary of Agriculture.
We look across the entire cabinet, there are incredible women. Linda McMahon leading the Department of Education. You know, the list goes on and on. And the White House is full of working women. In fact, I was going up the staircase in the West Wing today and saw two of my female colleagues, both of whom are pregnant, having babies this year, and they’re working and they’re saving America because President Trump believes in the best people for the job, the brightest people for the job.
Karoline Leavitt’s First Press Briefing
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: That’s right. So, tell us, okay, that first day, because I remember we were like, okay, it’s Karoline Leavitt’s first press briefing. How many of you people were watching out there? So, of course, as the older sister, I’m like, I better start praying right now. And we’re both Catholics, so I’m like praying to like Mary, the saints, everybody else, Jesus. I’m like, “Jesus, come on, just cover.” When you walked into that White House press briefing room, now you were there beforehand as one of the press assistants, but this is different. This is like one of the most important jobs of the administration. How did you feel? And what was your focus? Like how did you know, okay, I’m ready, I’m in business?
KAROLINE LEAVITT: Yes. Well, there is extensive preparation that goes into each briefing. And I’m so blessed to have an amazing team at the White House who helps me prepare. I brought three of our big guns yesterday. We had Stephen Miller and Mike Waltz and Kevin Hassett join me at the podium to celebrate one month. And I lean on the policy experts in the building to figure out what is fake news versus what is truth.
So a lot of preparation, a lot of reading, talking to the president to understand his thinking. And then when I got to the podium, I realized the president is delivering on everything he said he was going to do, which makes my job as his spokeswoman easy because I’m not working for a politician who is lying and we have to send. I’m working for a man who said things, and he’s delivering on those things every day.
Dealing with the Media
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: Now, I remember because I worked in the first administration, and the press secretary at the time, I was a strategic communications senior advisor for President Trump, and our press secretary at the time was now Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who will be on stage with me tomorrow. But I remember those exchanges between Sarah and this guy. Let me remember his name. Wait a second. This CNN guy, Jim Acosta. Oh, oh, wait, he’s not on CNN anymore. That’s right. He was like, so not, it was just so, I would say, you don’t mind the aggressive questions, you take the aggressive questions, but it was just always to the point that it was like, how do you destroy Donald Trump? How do you destroy the individuals and staff? It was so, when they do say Trump derangement syndrome, and I do think that there’s also Elon Musk derangement syndrome happening too with the media, because they don’t know how to handle it. How do you view that differently from the first administration till now? Because it was a lot of dealing with Russian hoax at the beginning, special counsels. It was constant, because the media was trying so hard to, and they never apologized, right? They didn’t apologize about the Russian hoax.
KAROLINE LEAVITT: Yeah, that’s right, they didn’t.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: So this time around, it’s a very different strategy that you all are taking forward. What is that strategy?
KAROLINE LEAVITT: Well, first of all, since you brought up Jim Acosta, he’s been saying some not-so-nice things about me online, and I’ve resisted responding, but since you brought him up, I’d like to say, “Jim, at least I have a job, Jim, okay?” Just saying. Now, moving on. As far as the strategy, we are on offense. We are on offense every single day, and the President leads from an offensive mindset. We are not going to apologize for cutting waste, fraud, and abuse from our government. We are not going to apologize for mass-supporting illegal immigrant criminals who have broken our nation’s laws and terrorized our communities, and we are not going to apologize for slashing regulations and undoing the disastrous policies of the previous administration.
That’s what the President said he was going to do, and that’s what the majority of our fellow Americans want, the latest CBS polls. Seventy percent of Americans say that President Trump is delivering on what he said he was going to do. So we’re not going to apologize. We’re going to keep moving ahead, and we try to bring that approach in our messaging every single day.
Karoline Leavitt’s Strength and Motivation
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: So I’ve got to ask you, you know, you’re working all the time. These jobs are, when I tell you, so demanding, they are so demanding, and I do feel that it is like warp speed what you’re dealing with, even more so than we saw in the first administration. How do you get the strength to just get through every single day?
Karoline Leavitt’s Motivation and White House Team
KAROLINE LEAVITT: My faith in God, absolutely. Waking up every day and just remembering I’m blessed, and we’re all blessed to live in this country, and to have a President who is looking out for us every day. Family support and our team at the White House. We really have a great team. You talked about how the media tried to cause so much division within the White House in the first term. They’re trying to do it, but they’re failing. They are not getting away with it because we truly have such great camaraderie, and the people I work with every day, they’re friends, and we’re together, I mean, 18 hours a day. So you’ve got to like who you’re around.
But we truly are having fun, and we’re getting work done. And, again, the President is leading with that positive, happy warrior attitude, and it transpires to the rest of the White House every day.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: And, you know, in the first administration, there were those chiefs of staff that were trying to undermine President Trump. This is, I mean, Susie Wiles is so impressive in terms of being able to bring order and just I think so much structure to what we’re seeing at the White House. Your reaction?
KAROLINE LEAVITT: Susie Wiles is wildly respected by every single person in that building, and she sets the tone, she sets the pace. She’s like that person in your life that you’d never want to disappoint. Like you’d never want Susie Wiles to look at you and be disappointed. Everybody just has the utmost respect for her, especially the President. And they have a great relationship, and she’s done a phenomenal job. She led the most historic campaign in American history and the biggest victory on November 5th, and we’re so grateful to have her at the White House.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: Now, I remember when I met Karoline. She was running for Congress in New Hampshire.
KAROLINE LEAVITT: Yes.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: And, I mean, the energy and the charisma of this young woman. How old were you at that time?
KAROLINE LEAVITT: Oh, gosh. I wasn’t even old enough to be in Congress when I started the campaign. I was 23 years old and turned 25 in the midst of it all.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: So what lessons did you learn during that campaign? And I watched you in action to what you were able to apply that to your job today.
KAROLINE LEAVITT: So many lessons. First of all, running for office was an incredible experience, and I think it helped prepare me a lot for this job. But, obviously, public speaking, not being afraid, and just doubling down on your positions and your values. And grateful for the experience. Glad I lost the general election because this job is a heck of a lot more fun.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: No, no kidding. Well, you realize something in life, and you appreciate this. God has a plan, right? God has a plan for every single one of us. And, you know, with disappointments that come in life, then come other great opportunities and great things. Okay, so let’s talk about the Gulf of America. Okay, so what… Okay, tell me what happened with the AP. Give me what’s going on here.
Legal Challenges and Media Strategy
KAROLINE LEAVITT: So, it’s just us, right? It’s just us. Well, I really would love to answer this question. But upon driving over here from the White House, I actually learned that I have been sued by the Associated Press.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: Oh, that means, okay, we cannot… Wait, personally?
KAROLINE LEAVITT: We’ll see them in court.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: Wait a second. Personally?
KAROLINE LEAVITT: Yes. Yes.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: See, this is what these people do. It’s called lawfare. You can’t say it. I’ll say it. It’s called lawfare, people. That means I’ll probably get sued in the next 30 minutes or so. Okay, keep going.
KAROLINE LEAVITT: So, I wanted to get the White House counsel on the phone before taking this stage to see what I can and cannot say. I really can’t say anything. But, look, we feel we are in the right in this position. And I said in my first briefing at the podium, we are going to ensure that truth and accuracy is present at that White House every single day. And one of the changes that we made, President Trump ran a nontraditional media strategy on the campaign trail. And he owned it. And he did podcasts. The Theo Vaughn podcast. The Joe Rogan podcast. He went places that no other politician has ever wanted to go. And it helped him earn votes. It helped him earn support. And we wanted to continue that approach at the White House.
So, we’ve added the new media seat in the White House briefing room. That’s been fantastic. Thank you. Yes. We are inviting podcasters and influencers and independent journalists who aren’t constrained by this legacy media bias to join us. They deserve the privilege of covering the President of the United States just as much as any other legacy media outlet who has spewed lies about President Trump for years.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: Lies about President Trump. Lies about the people who work for President Trump. Lies against people like yourselves. This is what the media, so many in the media, have done. I’m not saying all of them because there are some good eggs out there for sure. But there is definitely the sense that they drove this narrative, that they pushed this leftist agenda. Didn’t they forget to talk about Biden’s mental decline for quite some time? That was a narrative that they just ignored, I guess. What did they do today? What were they doing? Sitting out there in the White House just like eating popcorn and going, yeah, why isn’t he coming out to speak to us? And they didn’t cover it.
KAROLINE LEAVITT: And I was so glad that Stephen Miller called out the press yesterday in the briefing. I’m not sure if you guys saw that. But he said many of the people in that room covered up Biden’s mental incompetence. And he is right. And if you talk to these reporters off the record, that’s the worst part about it. They won’t report on it, but they will tell you off the record to your face that they knew Biden was incompetent. That the White House staff sometimes weren’t showing up until noon. No work was being done. Nobody knew who was in charge. We all knew the truth in this room. And they tried to tell us, don’t believe your lying eyes. He has all this energy and spirit. It was always a lie. And shame on the media for peddling it.
Press Interactions and Executive Orders
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: So there is this thing called the press pool. And President Trump, he’s in the Oval Office with all of his executive orders, the blue binders. And there they bring in the press pool. And he loves it. He thrives on it. Tell me about those exchanges. I just feel like the press, they are really, I mean, I don’t know if they can work these 24-hour cycles of President Trump’s new administration. I mean, can they? They’re exhausted. Don’t you think they should just take a vacation at this point because they just can’t keep up?
KAROLINE LEAVITT: Well, we’ve signed 73 executive orders. Actually, the President was signing two more when I left the White House. So 75 executive orders. Quadrupled the number of Barack Obama. Doubled the number of Joe Biden in that same period of time. He is outworking every President ever. And the media can’t keep up. But that first day, President Trump was, think about this. He was inaugurated, swore the oath of office, goes to the White House, sees his old office for the first time, the Resolute Desk. And he says, let’s invite journalists into one of the most intimate spaces of the American presidency in the Oval Office. And I’ll take questions from them on any topic they want for more than an hour. This is the most transparent and accessible President we have ever had, despite what the media wants to say.
Balancing Motherhood and Career
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: So, you’re a mom.
KAROLINE LEAVITT: I am.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: Isn’t that fabulous?
KAROLINE LEAVITT: It’s the best thing ever.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: It’s the best thing ever. Yes, it is. And I will tell you, in my time at the White House, it was with Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Ivanka Trump, Kellyanne Conway, Brooke Rollins. Between all this, we had 19 kids. Goodness gracious, a lot of kids. It’s a huge sacrifice. It’s a huge sacrifice. But you look at your son, Nico, and why are you doing what you’re doing?
KAROLINE LEAVITT: For him and for all of the other children in this country, we have a country to save. And I want my son to grow up in a free and patriotic America that we can be proud of.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: And thank you. I try to remind myself of that. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. All right. One more question here. So, yesterday I asked Vice President J.D. Vance.
KAROLINE LEAVITT: Yes.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: Who is great, by the way? Who loves our Vice President? I mean, seriously. Goodbye. I asked him the question, what is your message to young men? There’s a lot of young women out there, young girls, who really admire you. I mean, in addition to being the youngest press secretary in history, really doing the work that you’re doing and just being so strong while you’re doing it. It’s so admirable. What’s your message to these young women?
KAROLINE LEAVITT: Stay strong. Speak the truth. And don’t let anybody tell you you can’t achieve your dream or you can’t get to that next step. Just believe in yourself because there will be a lot of people who don’t believe in you, who cast doubt on you, who talk bad about you. Screw them. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: Ladies and gentlemen, Karoline Leavitt, your press secretary.
