Karoline Leavitt: Evil forces worked against Trump during 2024 election
Donald Trump's press secretary has said 'evil forces' were working against him during his presidential election campaign.
Karoline Leavitt said she saw this 'first-hand' in 2024 and that she believes 'spiritual warfare' is taking place in America.
During an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Ms Leavitt – who is at 27-years-old, the youngest White House press secretary ever – also spoke of her 'guilt' at being away from her eight-month-old son, Niko, while she is at work.
Ms Leavitt spoke of the difficulty of juggling her career and motherhood, but said she always tries to come home for Niko's bedtime.
Ms Leavitt's role hosting the daily press briefings has turned her into a lightning rod for criticism from those who take umbrage with her no-nonsense approach at the podium.
Credit: CBN News
But her pithy retorts to journalists from Left-wing media organisations have made her a hero among Mr Trump's supporters.
The president himself strongly backs Ms Leavitt, a former Republican Congressional candidate, and said last week she is 'knocking them dead'.
She attended a Catholic high school in Lawrence, Massachusetts followed by Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire on a softball scholarship.
'I certainly believe in spiritual warfare. And I think I saw it first-hand, especially throughout the campaign trail with President Trump. And I think there certainly were evil forces.'
Referring to the attempt on Mr Trump's life, she added: 'And I think that the president was saved by the grace of God on July 13th in Butler, Pennsylvania, and he's in this moment for a reason.'
Ms Leavitt said that on the mornings she does the daily press briefing, she spends hours talking to the president and his senior advisors to understand their take on current events.
But just before she goes to the briefing room, she holds a group prayer to steady herself.
'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, protection, and it is a nice moment to reset,' she said.
'It's the last thing I do before I go out there, and then it just gives me the confidence to do a briefing.'
Ms Leavitt's clashes with the Left-wing media have been turned into memes and celebrated by Maga supporters: during one exchange about former president Joe Biden's pardons, she quipped to CNN's Kaitlan Collins: 'You're a reporter, you should find out.'
In the interview, Ms Leavitt said that she knew what Left-wing outlets like MSNBC were going to ask because their questions were 'predictable'.
Taking aim at legacy media outlets, Ms Leavitt said during the 2024 election, US voters 'sent out a very strong message' that 'we don't listen to you'.
In more personal comments, Ms Leavitt said that working in the White House there were often 'hard days and long days and tiring days but every day is a good day'.
Of her busy lifestyle, in which she gets around five or six hours of sleep a night, she insisted: 'As President Trump says, when you love your job and you love your life, you don't need to sleep much.'
However she did admit to a 'sense of guilt' at not being able to spend more time with her baby Niko that she shares with her husband Nicholas Riccio, 59, a property developer.She said: 'Saying no when you have to say no to take care of your family is something I've had to learn the hard way in a very short amount of time. I try to make it home for bedtime during the week.'Ms Leavitt paid tribute to her hard-working, blue collar parents who did not go to college and instilled the value of hard work into her from a young age.She said that being the White House press secretary put to bed the 'fallacy' that Mr Trump does not surround himself with strong and intelligent women. The president's chief of staff is Susie Wiles, the first woman to hold the role.
As Ms Leavitt saw it, 'God had a plan' when she lost the election for a US House seat in New Hampshire's 1st district in 2022 as it led to her getting her current job.
Out of all of Mr Trump's policies, tackling illegal immigration was the one that meant most to her, Ms Leavitt said.
She was especially moved by the Laken Riley Act which orders ICE to detain migrants charged with theft-related crimes.
It was inspired by the murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley, a nursing student who was killed while out jogging in January 2024 in Augusta, Georgia.The killer, 26-year-old José Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan migrant who was in the US illegally, had previously been arrested for theft but was released.
Ms Leavitt said: 'I've watched as the president has… taken out a lot of time to know these mothers who have lost their children (to migrant crime).'As a mother myself I cannot imagine anything like that happening, especially at the hands of someone who should have never been in the country in the first place.'
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Yahoo
6 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump aides want Texas to redraw its congressional maps to boost the GOP. What would that mean?
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10 minutes ago
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ICE raids accelerate, protests spread
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Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Musk regrets some of his Trump criticisms, says they 'went too far'
Musk regrets some of his Trump criticisms, says they 'went too far' Elon Musk, the world's richest person and Donald Trump's former advisor, says he regretted some of his recent criticisms of the US president (Kevin Dietsch) (Kevin Dietsch/GETTY IMAGESvia AFP) Elon Musk, the world's richest person and Donald Trump's former advisor, said Wednesday he regretted some of his recent criticisms of the US president, after the pair's public falling-out last week. "I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far," Musk wrote on his social media platform X, in a message that was received favorably by the White House. Musk's expression of regret came just days after Trump threatened the tech billionaire with "serious consequences" if he sought to punish Republicans who vote for a controversial spending bill. Their blistering break-up -- largely carried out on social media before a riveted public since Thursday last week -- was ignited by Musk's harsh criticism of Trump's so-called "big, beautiful" spending bill, which is currently before Congress. ADVERTISEMENT Some lawmakers who were against the bill had called on Musk -- one of the Republican Party's biggest financial backers in last year's presidential election -- to fund primary challenges against Republicans who voted for the legislation. "He'll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that," Trump, who also branded Musk "disrespectful," told NBC News on Saturday, without specifying what those consequences would be. Trump also said he had "no" desire to repair his relationship with the South African-born Tesla and SpaceX chief, and that he has "no intention of speaking to him." But after Musk's expression of regret, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump was "appreciative," adding that "no efforts" had been made on a threat by Trump to end some of Musk's government contracts. "The president acknowledged the statement that Elon put out this morning, and he is appreciative of it," Leavitt said. ADVERTISEMENT According to the New York Times, Musk's message followed a phone call to Trump late on Monday night. Vice President JD Vance and Chief of Staff Susan Wiles had also been working with Musk on how to broker a truce with Trump, the report said. - 'Wish him well' - In his post on Wednesday, Musk did not specify which of his criticisms of Trump had gone "too far." The former allies had seemed to have cut ties amicably about two weeks ago, with Trump giving Musk a glowing send-off as he left his cost-cutting role at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). But their relationship cracked within days, with Musk describing the spending bill as an "abomination" that, if passed by Congress, could define Trump's second term in office. Trump hit back at Musk's comments in an Oval Office diatribe and from there the row detonated, leaving Washington stunned. ADVERTISEMENT Trump later said on his Truth Social platform that cutting billions of dollars in subsidies and contracts to Musk's companies would be the "easiest way" to save the US government money. US media have put the value of the contracts at $18 billion. With real political and economic risks to their falling out, both already appeared to inch back from the brink on Friday, with Trump telling reporters "I just wish him well," and Musk responding on X: "Likewise." Trump had spoken to NBC on Saturday after Musk deleted one of the explosive allegations he had made during their fallout, linking the president with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of sex trafficking. bur-arp/aha
