Fox News Senior White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich recently appeared on my radio show, and we covered a number of topics. I mentioned an Associated Press story this week that discussed the possibility of the White House needing to hire additional stenographers in order to keep up with avalanche of words emanating from the president, which must be chronicled for history and posterity. Incidentally, that story offered a requisite 'Trump is a liar, of course' disclaimer, which is basically a mandatory Statement of Faith among progressive journos who wish to remain in good standing with their peers. What's interesting about this drive-by 'fact check' is that one of just two examples of presidential "falsehoods" offered in the piece is, in fact, totally accurate. I'm perfectly willing to admit that Trump has a tendency to embellish, exaggerate, and fabricate. when it suits his interests. But hitting him for saying something that's entirely and verifiably true is a credibilty-destroying choice:
“Laden with falsehoods” such as…his “assertions that California water policies worsened the recent wildfires.”
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 4, 2025
What? Existing reservoirs were empty, mandated reservoirs weren’t built, precious water was wasted & released into the ocean, and hydrants ran dry.
AP: “False!” pic.twitter.com/zSEPsePjvm
Existing reservoirs were empty. Mandated reservoirs weren't built. Precious water was wasted and released into the ocean. And fire hydrants ran dry. Other water policy decisions are also under scrutiny. The AP's reporters and editors look at all of this and say it's a "falsehood" for Trump to say any of these factors worsened the recent wildfires. It's astonishing, and symptomatic of widespread media failures. In any case, elsewhere in that story, the sheer volume of Trump's words was quantified like this:
The White House stenographers have a problem. Donald Trump is talking so much, the people responsible for transcribing his public remarks are struggling to keep up with all the words. There were more than 22,000 on Inauguration Day, then another 17,000 when Trump visited disaster sites in North Carolina and California. It’s enough to strain the ears and fingers of even the most dedicated stenographer, especially after four years of Joe Biden’s relative quiet. Now there are discussions about hiring additional staff to keep up with the workload, according to people with knowledge of the conversations who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal matters. The flood of words is one of the most visible — or audible — shifts from Biden to Trump, who craves the spotlight and understands better than most politicians that attention is a form of power.
By one count, Trump has already answered more questions from members of the media during his new term than Joe Biden did over the course of years. Heinrich told me she doesn't doubt that. She also gave my audience an almost startlingly candid assessment of Trump's new White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, as compared to her Biden-era predecessor, Karine Jean Pierre:
KJP VS. KAROLINE LEAVITT: @JacquiHeinrich joined the #guybensonshow today and broke down the differences between WH Press Sec. Karoline Leavitt and her predecessor, KJP.
— The Guy Benson Show (@GuyBensonShow) February 5, 2025
Heinrich noted that Leavitt "really cares" about the job as opposed to KJP, 🎧🔽:https://t.co/wgGM638X8Q pic.twitter.com/KA7YbHZ70d
She's very impressive. I mean, the biggest thing is it's abundantly clear that she is in the room with the president. She has, you know, an intimate understanding of all of these issues, so she's prepared to answer questions about them and follow ups about them. She also did her homework, you know, getting to know each of the outlets that's represented in the room, people's names. She really cares about the job, I think, in a way that we didn't see from Karine Jean-Pierre, who avoided briefing at every chance she got and was very clearly not in the know about a lot of the issues that she got questions on, which was why oftentimes she would accidentally lie to us because she would make these broad, sweeping statements that, you know, reflected her lack of understanding about these issues. And compared to Jen Psaki, who she would spend, she would deflect, she would avoid answering, but she never outright lied because she did have, you know, knowledge of what was going on. So, anyway, Karoline Leavitt is very, very impressive. She's handling that podium so well, and I suspect she's going to get even better as time goes on. She's the youngest in history and, you know, obviously put in this position for a reason.
Heinrich is speaking in her capacity as a journalist who's covered the White House beat for years, and I happen to know that her negative review of KJP is not an outlier within the political press corps, even including the many reporters who are strong ideological and partisan allies of the Democratic Party. Elsewhere in our conversation, I asked Heinrich about a question she posed during Leavitt's inaugural briefing:
White House Press. Sec. Karoline Leavitt brushes aside concerns expressed by GOP Sen. Cotton that revoking Secret Service or Diplomatic Security protection for John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, and Brian Hook could subject them and their loved ones and friends to a constant security… pic.twitter.com/WU5mn5deZ9
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) January 28, 2025
The president also had this to say (after the exchange above) about the very real assassination plots and threats from the Iranian regime, in response to a query from Fox's Peter Doocy:
Trump: “If Iran assassinates me, they will be obliterated. I left instructions." pic.twitter.com/plHL05bpQj
— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) February 4, 2025
Does that 'obliteration' threat extend to current and former US officials, like Pompeo, et al? Heinrich said she imagines it would, but she will seek clarity on that point. I have said publicly that as long as an enemy regime is actively trying to murder former American officials in retaliation for carrying out US policy (and, indeed, Trump policy, in the case of the successful Soleimani strike), they should receive special protection from security details. Stay tuned.
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