Karoline Leavitt has clashed with a ‘left-wing hack’ after he objected to her ‘your mom’ response to his question.
The White House Press Secretary courted controversy last week after rebuffing Huffington Post reporter S.V. Date with the juvenile response when he asked about Donald Trump’s upcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin.
But setting the record straight on Monday, Leavitt shared her entire text exchange and claimed that the reporter has ‘consistently attacked President Trump for years and constantly bombards my phone with Democrat talking points.’
In the texts, Date asks Leavitt why Budapest, Hungary, was picked as the venue for the peace talks with Putin, noting that the city was where Russia promised in 1994 to never invade Ukraine when the Soviet Union dissolved.
‘Who suggested Budapest?’ Date texted Leavitt.
The 28-year-old replied: ‘You mom did.’
He responded: ‘Is this funny to you?’
The spokeswoman then unleashed, writing: ‘It’s funny to me that you actually consider yourself a journal (sic). You are a far left hack who nobody takes seriously, including your colleagues in the media, they just don’t tell you that to your face. Stop texting me your disingenuous, biased, and bullshit questions.’
President Donald Trump, joined by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, speaks to the media as he departs the White House on July 15
Setting the record straight on Monday, Leavitt shared her entire text exchange and claimed that the reporter has ‘consistently attacked President Trump for years and constantly bombards my phone with Democrat talking points’
Trump announced last week on Truth Social that he plans to meet Putin in the Hungarian capital to discuss ending the Russia-Ukraine war. No date has yet been set for the meeting but the Kremlin has said it will be within two weeks.
The venue is symbolically charged as it is where the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, agreed by Russia, along with the US and the UK, assured Ukraine’s sovereignty and borders in return for the country’s denuclearization at the Soviet Union’s dissolution.
Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and 2022 invasion violated the accord.
Beyond the memorandum, Hungary is also controversial because Hungarian PM Viktor Orban is a Putin ally — the Eastern European nation is withdrawing from the International Criminal Court which has a warrant for the Russian leader’s arrest.
Trump met with Putin in Alaska in August but there was no breakthrough in the pace talks.
The president met Zelensky at the White House on Friday where he said he believed that Russia was ready to make peace, and rejected Kyiv’s demands for long-range Tomahawk missiles that would be able to strike Moscow.
It comes as Trump has been buoyed by his historic ceasefire in the Gaza Strip following two years of bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas.
‘He feels he has momentum on his side to tackle this,’ a source told the Daily Mail.
Leavitt’s response to Date last week was called ‘childish’ and characterized as emblematic of the second Trump administration by many major outlets.
She also drew condemnation for escalating her rhetoric against the president’s critics when she called the Democrats’ voter base: ‘Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals.’
Trump meanwhile praised his press secretary for her tenacity, once again referring to how her lips move ‘like a machine gun.’
Date is Huffington Post’s senior White House correspondent and has a track record of criticizing Trump. The news website caters to an urban, liberal reader.
