White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt expertly slapped down a New York Times reporter on Tuesday for asking what very well could be the dumbest question ever.
During a press conference, reporter Shawn McCreesh asked, “Hey, if the point is to get everybody on the same page, why wouldn’t Trump just take the call from Putin while the other leaders were in the room? He said it would be disrespectful to do that—but why is it disrespectful?”
The collective IQ of everyone in the room dropped by ten points from having heard McCreesh’s ridiculous inquiry.
“With all due respect, only a reporter from The New York Times would ask a question like that, Shawn,” Leavitt responded.
The press secretary noted how the European leaders who were present had rushed to meet with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shortly after Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
“The president met with all of these European leaders at the White House, 48 hours after sitting down with President Putin on American soil,” she said. “In fact, there was so much progress and such a detailed readout given to these European leaders immediately following his meeting with President Putin that every single one of them got on a plane 48 hours later and flew to the United States of America.”
Leavitt read some statements from the European leaders. She quoted Zelensky as saying, “It was a very good conversation. It was really good. We spoke about very sensitive points.”
Recommended
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte noted that “It was the president—only because of the president—that this deadlock was broken with President Putin by starting a dialogue.”
New York Times reporter asks why Trump didn't have the phone call with Putin in front of the European leaders at the summit.
— Hotep Jeffiziah Charles🏴 (@jeffcharlesjr) August 19, 2025
Karoline Leavitt slaps him down.
"With all due respect, only a reporter from The New York Times would ask a question like that." pic.twitter.com/bv6GwiKT0q
In a Monday post on Truth Social, Trump said he “had a very good meeting with distinguished guests President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, President Emmanuel Macron, of France, President Alexander Stubb, of Finland, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, of Italy, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, of the United Kingdom, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Friedrich Merz, President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, in the White House, which ended in a further meeting in the Oval Office.”
President Trump also said that when he paused the meeting to call Putin, they “began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy.”
After this meeting, the three leaders “will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself,” Trump added.
So far, about 250,000 Russian soldiers and 60,000 to 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the fighting. At least 12,000 civilians in Ukraine have lost their lives because of the conflict. This includes over 500 children.
But McCreesh is worried about Trump speaking with Putin by himself instead of with European leaders.
So far, the Trump administration has gotten far closer to ending the war in Ukraine than the Biden administration. If everything goes according to plan, the killing will stop — hopefully. You would think that everyone would be happy about this because nobody wants to see people dying. But it appears that members of the activist media are more intent on using the war to attack Trump.
At some point, humanity should Trump politics. But in this case, it doesn’t — at least for some on the left.
Editor's Note: Unlike left-wing media, we at Townhall want President Trump to succeed in ending the Ukraine war and are dedicated to covering his peace efforts.
Help us continue to expose their left-wing bias by reading news you can trust. Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member