On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered quite the response as journalists lamented the story of The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg inadvertently being added to a Signal group chat. The group chat of Trump administration officials discussed plans for military strikes against the Houthi rebels, but classified material was not discussed, as Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Leavitt have made clear.
Early on in her remarks, Leavitt provided updates of what the Trump administration accomplished with military strikes against Houthis, also reminding that "it's important to remember why this powerful action took place in the first place," which is "because of Joe Biden's incompetent and pathetic weakness on the world stage." Thanks to Biden, which included him delisting the Houthi rebels as terrorists, a point Leavitt mentioned by showing coverage from CNN at the time, the rebels became further emboldened.
"Did anybody in this room ask the Biden administration at the time why they made such a stupid mistake?" Leavitt wondered. This reckless action undid the designation put in place by President Trump during his first term, and what followed was predictable, and devastating." Leavitt then reminded how the Houthis have threatened Americans economically and attacked our allies in the region.
"Joe Biden was the commander in chief and he sat on his hands, while the United States was bullied and embarrassed by terrorists," Leavitt added for good measure. "President Trump and his team are putting a stop to these threats and restoring strength around the world," she highlighted in contrast, as she spoke further about the Trump administration's "peace through strength" strategies.
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Is this what the media wants to talk about, though? It's not, and Leavitt called the press out for it. "But unfortunately this is not what the Democrats and the media want to talk about! They are focused on a coordinated campaign to try to sow chaos in this White House," Leavitt said, offering that such attacks are taking place because the Trump administration has been so successful in its first two months.
But, Leavitt made clear, "we are not going to bend in the face of this insincere outrage." She also went on to make clear that "we're not going to lose focus of the bottom line, which is that Joe Biden's weakness enabled and emboldened Houthi terrorists and that President Trump's strength and resolve eliminated those terrorists.
Even with these reminders from the press secretary, many reporters still insisted on fixating on the Signal group chat, the messages, and other issues to harp on, though Leavitt continued to remind these reporters of the bigger picture.
Leavitt's best moment came when she was responding to a reporter who was asking about the safety and protection of U.S. servicemembers with such messages, had they been made public.
As part of her answer, Leavitt reminded that President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth take seriously protecting these servicemembers, while also restoring peace, which "is something the previous administration had not done."
She then added that "we are NOT going to be lectured about national security and American troops by Democrats and the mainstream media who turned the other cheek when the Biden administration, because of their incompetence, left 13 service members DEAD in Afghanistan and not a single person in the previous administration was held accountable for that botched withdrawal," stressing her words for emphasis and bringing up a key point that many Democrats taking issue with the Trump administration, even calling for resignations, have failed to take note of.
🔥@PressSec: "We are NOT going to be lectured about national security and American troops by Democrats and the mainstream media who turned the other cheek when the Biden administration, because of their incompetence, left 13 service members DEAD in Afghanistan and not a single… pic.twitter.com/01VCIS6XOr
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 26, 2025
It wasn't just Democratic allies in the media expressing such concerns, but Democratic lawmakers as well. Chief among them has been Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia. Leavitt had also gone after Warner during her remarks at the podium during the day, calling him out for being "hysterical" in his outrage, though he himself used the encrypted app of Signal.
Despite the points that the Trump administration has repeatedly been making, Warner claimed that American soldiers were put "in harm's way," which he called "jaw-dropping."
🚨Democrat Senator Mark Warner: It's "jaw-dropping" that the Trump administration "put American soldiers in harm's way." pic.twitter.com/8OKyXpMp6A
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 26, 2025
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