Karoline Leavitt Sparks Backlash After Calling CBS Anchor ‘Stupid’ During Trump Interview

In the latest twist from Washington’s turbulent media landscape, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has found herself at the center of controversy after an offhand remark aimed at CBS anchor Margaret Brennan. Leavitt, who has become known as much for her combative style as for her visible embrace of Christianity, raised eyebrows last week when she accompanied President Donald Trump for an extended interview with the conservative outlet Daily Caller.

The sit-down was already expected to generate headlines, with Trump often using such platforms to vent frustrations about the press. But midway through the conversation, the president pivoted to one of his favorite topics: the Sunday morning political shows, singling out CBS’s Face the Nation for criticism. “The woman on Face the Nation is so bad… Margaret Brennan. What do you think of her?” Trump asked, prompting Leavitt to interject. Without hesitation, she replied, “She’s stupid. You can put that on the record.” Trump added his own insult, calling Brennan “nasty,” to which Leavitt simply nodded and said, “Yes.”

The exchange, clipped and widely circulated online, quickly became a flashpoint. Supporters of Trump and Leavitt applauded her bluntness, arguing that Brennan’s tough interviews with administration officials merited such pushback. Critics, however, condemned the remark as disrespectful and unbecoming of a White House official. The tension only deepened when Trump went on to praise Secretary of State Marco Rubio for “handling” Brennan during previous interviews, lauding him as “good” and “smart.”

Trump was almost certainly referencing a pair of tense exchanges earlier in the year. In June, Rubio sparred with Brennan on air while defending the administration’s rationale for ordering strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran, a move that drew sharp international criticism. Months earlier, in February, Brennan had pressed Rubio over Vice President JD Vance’s incendiary address at the Munich Security Conference, in which Vance accused European leaders of censorship and of opening the “floodgates” to immigration. Those confrontations, both widely covered in the press, underscored Brennan’s reputation as a tough, unflinching interviewer, and perhaps made her an easy target for Trump and his allies.

For the president, the interview was another chance to highlight his grievances with mainstream media. “The level of hatred, I’m surprised he goes on there, the level of hatred when they’re asking the question,” Trump said of Rubio’s appearances on Face the Nation. His comments underscored his long-running feud with the press and reflected the combative tone that has defined his relationship with journalists.

The Daily Beast has since reported that it reached out to Brennan, CBS parent company Paramount, and Leavitt herself for comment, though none had responded by the time of publication. Still, the remark reverberated across political and media circles, drawing particular attention because of Leavitt’s personal image.

Leavitt, despite her reputation as Trump’s fiery defender, has carefully cultivated a public persona steeped in Christian identity. A self-proclaimed devout believer, she often wears a cross necklace during her press briefings at the White House, where she regularly scolds reporters with a mix of sarcasm and sharp rebukes. The juxtaposition of faith and firebrand rhetoric has made her one of the more polarizing figures in Washington. In March, she openly called reporters “a—–es” in a briefing, a move that drew criticism but also energized Trump’s base, who viewed her as a warrior willing to say what others would not.

Her invocation of faith, however, adds another layer of complexity. In an April interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Leavitt described how her press team begins each briefing with prayer. “I think that team prayer before is just a moment to be silent and still and ask God for confidence and the ability to articulate my words, knowledge, prayer, and protection, and it is a nice moment to reset,” she explained. The image of a press office pausing for prayer before storming into contentious exchanges with the national media is striking, and for her critics, it makes the sharp rhetoric even harder to reconcile.

Her cross necklace has become so associated with her public image that its absence sparks curiosity. Observers noticed, for instance, when she appeared without it during discussions of the Jeffrey Epstein files, and again after an episode of South Park mocked her combative persona. In a separate interview with the Stanley M. Herzog Foundation, Leavitt explained her attachment to the pendant: “I try to wear it every day. Because I love Jesus and I believe my faith is the reason I’m here.”

The clash between Leavitt’s faith-forward identity and her aggressive style has become a defining tension of her role. To her supporters, it makes her authentic—someone who prays before battle and then fights fiercely on behalf of the president. To detractors, it is hypocritical, a contradiction between the values she professes and the language she uses. That contradiction was laid bare once again in her dismissal of Brennan as “stupid,” a word whose bluntness clashed sharply with her public image as a devout Christian.

The episode comes at a delicate time for the White House, with the administration facing renewed scrutiny over foreign policy and domestic messaging. Rubio’s strained defenses of controversial decisions, Vance’s provocative speech in Munich, and ongoing international tensions have all contributed to a volatile media environment. In such a climate, every word spoken by senior officials carries extra weight, particularly when those words are as pointed as Leavitt’s.

In the end, the incident may not significantly alter Leavitt’s standing in Trump’s orbit, where loyalty and combativeness are often prized above all else. But it does highlight the continuing clash between the administration and the media, a battle that has defined Trump’s political career and shows no signs of easing. For Brennan, who has built her reputation on tough questioning, the insult may only reinforce her stature as a journalist unafraid to confront power. For Leavitt, the remark adds to her growing reputation as a press secretary who embodies both the fervor of Trump’s base and the contradictions that come with wielding faith and fire in equal measure.