White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt sparred with CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday over the network’s coverage of the six U.S. service members killed in strikes by Iran.
Ms. Leavitt grew combative after Ms. Collins questioned her over comments Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made earlier in the day about how the media portrayed the deaths of those service members stationed at a U.S. base in Kuwait.
“Is it the position of this administration that the press should not prominently cover the deaths of U.S. service members?” Ms. Collins asked during a White House briefing.
“No,” Ms. Leavitt fired back. “It’s the position of this administration that the press should accurately report on the success of Operation Epic Fury and the damage it is doing to [Iran].”
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Ms. Collins then referenced remarks by Mr. Hegseth, who said the media coverage of the deaths was positioned to “make the president look bad.”
“But he was complaining that it was front-page news,” Ms. Collins said of Mr. Hegseth.
“That’s not what he said, and that’s not what he meant, and you know it,” Ms. Leavitt fired back. “The press only wants to make the president look bad. That’s an objective fact. Especially you and especially CNN.”
Ms. Collins said that highlighting the deaths is not “making the president look bad; that’s showcasing it.”
“If you’re trying to argue that CNN’s overwhelming coverage is not negative of President Trump, I think the American public would tend to agree [that it’s negative] and your ratings would tend to agree with that as well,” Ms. Leavitt responded.
