Karoline Leavitt holds a White House Press Briefing.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good afternoon, everybody.
00:02Good to see you all.
00:05Since Inauguration Day, President Trump has secured trillions of dollars in private and
00:10foreign investments.
00:12Every single day, more money is pouring into our country, which will create more jobs for
00:18hardworking Americans.
00:19Today, Schneider Electric pledged to invest more than $700 million in the United States
00:26to boost American energy infrastructure and AI.
00:29On Monday, Hyundai announced a $20 billion investment in the United States, including
00:35$5.8 billion for a new steel plant in Louisiana, which will create nearly 1,500 high-paying
00:42jobs.
00:43President Trump is truly turning America back into a manufacturing superpower.
00:48Yesterday, President Trump marked National Medal of Honor Day by meeting with 21 of our
00:53nation's bravest heroes and incredible patriots who have been awarded the highest military
00:59honor.
01:00Beautiful picture.
01:01The President also signed a historic executive order to protect the integrity of American
01:06elections by strengthening voter citizenship verification and banning foreign nationals
01:11from interfering in U.S. elections.
01:14These are the common-sense solutions that only Democrats could oppose.
01:19But voters deserve elections they can trust, and critical confidence is being restored
01:24thanks to President Trump's leadership.
01:26Later this afternoon, in the East Room, President Trump will mark Women's History Month by honoring
01:31the exceptional women around our country, including the highly talented women in his
01:36administration and his Cabinet.
01:38And on an additional scheduling update, the President will hold a press conference in
01:42the Oval Office today at 4 o'clock p.m. to announce tariffs on the auto industry.
01:47And I will leave that to him to make that announcement later.
01:51Unfortunately, all of this good is happening for our country.
01:54This administration is working hard on behalf of the American public every day, but the
01:58mainstream media continues to be focused on a sensationalized story from the failing Atlantic
02:04magazine that is falling apart by the hour.
02:08Here are the facts.
02:10The National Security Advisor has taken responsibility for this matter, and the National Security
02:15Council immediately said, alongside the White House Counsel's Office, that they are looking
02:20into how a reporter's number was inadvertently added to this messaging thread.
02:25We have said all along that no classified material was sent on this messaging thread,
02:31there were no locations, no sources, or methods revealed, and there were certainly no war
02:36plans discussed.
02:38The Atlantic has even admitted this themselves.
02:41Their release of these internal messages validates the truth, which we have been saying all along.
02:47If this story proves anything, it proves that Democrats and their propagandists in
02:52the mainstream media know how to fabricate, orchestrate, and disseminate a misinformation
02:57campaign quite well.
02:59And there's arguably no one in the media who loves manufacturing and pushing hoaxes more
03:04than Jeffrey Goldberg.
03:06Goldberg is an anti-Trump hater.
03:09He is a registered Democrat.
03:11Goldberg's wife is also a registered Democrat and a big Democrat donor who used to work
03:16under who?
03:17Hillary Clinton.
03:18This is the same Jeffrey Goldberg who infamously lied about weapons of mass destruction to
03:23get us into the Iraq War, which cost trillions of dollars and thousands of American soldiers.
03:28And how else has Goldberg discredited himself?
03:31By absurdly claiming that President Trump was Vladimir Putin during the 2016 campaign.
03:37By peddling the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax that tried to hijack President Trump's first
03:42term.
03:43By inventing the suckers and losers hoax to help Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
03:48By peddling a hoax about President Trump involving Gold Star families to help Kamala Harris in
03:54the 2024 election, which our campaign at the time vigorously denied.
03:59Jeffrey Goldberg didn't care.
04:01There's more, but we don't have all day.
04:03And we can now add this signal hoax to this very long list.
04:07The real story here is the overwhelming success of President Trump's decisive military action
04:13against Houthi terrorists.
04:15On March 15th, President Trump ordered a series of military operations against the terrorist
04:21Houthis to defend U.S. shipping assets in the Red Sea, restore freedom of navigation
04:26for international shipping, and defend the United States from enemy threats.
04:31United States forces successfully struck dozens of targets across Houthi-controlled
04:37territory.
04:38And as a result of these actions, several Houthi leaders were killed, including the
04:42Houthi drone chief, his deputy, and several of their drone experts and other key leaders.
04:48We also destroyed command and controlled facilities, weapons manufacturing facilities, and advanced
04:53weapons storage locations.
04:55And it's important to remember why this powerful action took place in the first place.
05:01Because of Joe Biden's incompetence and pathetic weakness on the world stage for years, the
05:06Houthi terrorists grew emboldened.
05:09Immediately after taking office in 2021, Joe Biden removed the Iran-backed Houthis from
05:14the Foreign Terrorist Organization and specifically designated global terrorist list.
05:20Did anybody in this room ask the Biden administration at the time why they made such a stupid mistake?
05:26This reckless action undid the designation put in place by President Trump during his
05:30first term, and what followed was predictable and devastating.
05:35The Houthis targeted U.S. military ships and aircraft, hit commercial ships, including
05:40U.S.-flagged vessels, threatened our personnel overseas, and attacked our allies in the region.
05:46This resulted in more than a year of U.S.-flagged commercial ships being prevented from safely
05:51sailing through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden.
05:56This had a massive negative impact on global trade of the economic security of the United
06:00States.
06:01Joe Biden was the commander-in-chief, and he sat on his hands while the United States
06:06of America was bullied and embarrassed by terrorists.
06:10President Trump and his team are putting a stop to these threats in restoring American
06:15strength around the world.
06:17The Trump peace-through-strength approach means no terrorist force will stop American
06:22commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the waterways of the world.
06:26But unfortunately, this is not what the Democrats and the media want to talk about.
06:31They are focused on a coordinated campaign to try and sow chaos in this White House.
06:37And this has been the most successful first two months of any administration ever, which
06:41is exactly why they are doing this.
06:44We are not going to bend in the face of this insincere outrage.
06:47And here is just one example of how bad faith the Democrats' criticisms are.
06:52Democrat Senator Mark Warner is hysterical over the use of Signal, which is an approved
06:57decrypted app, in the killing of Houthi terrorists.
07:00But Senator Warner himself used Signal to work with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch
07:05to connect with a – to connect the disgraced Steele dossier author who started the Russia
07:12hoax, which Jeffrey Goldberg later reported on.
07:15How ironic.
07:16We're not going to lose focus of the bottom line, which is that Joe Biden's weakness
07:20enabled and emboldened Houthi terrorists, and President Trump's strength and resolve
07:25eliminated those terrorists.
07:27Here in our new media seat today, we have Lindsey Keith.
07:30She is the managing editor for Merritt TV and serves as their White House correspondent.
07:35Merritt TV launched one year ago and creates and distributes content across diverse platforms.
07:40We're glad to have you with us.
07:41Lindsey, please kick us off.
07:42Thank you, Caroline.
07:43I appreciate it and this opportunity for Merritt TV.
07:47Two questions, if I may.
07:48One on Signal, one on the economy.
07:51On Signal, how comfortable is the President with what was shared so far now that the chain
07:57has been released?
07:58The President's view on all of this remains the same today as it did yesterday.
08:03And I think it speaks volumes about the leadership of this President that he went directly to
08:07all of you, members of the press corps.
08:09He was asked, do you want someone else to go out and do a briefing?
08:12And he said, no, I will tackle this story.
08:15I will discuss it.
08:16The people need to hear from me about this situation.
08:19And so his thoughts on this remained the same today.
08:21He has placed great trust in his national security team.
08:26And as for the usage of Signal, as the President said yesterday, as the CIA director has testified
08:31under oath, this is an approved app.
08:34It's an encrypted app.
08:35The Department of Defense, the Department of State, the CIA has it loaded onto government
08:39phones because it is the most secure and efficient way to communicate.
08:44As for, again, the original situation in this messaging thread, the National Security Council,
08:48the White House Counsel's Office continues to look in to how this mistake, which the
08:52National Security Advisor has owned, occurred.
08:55And the President has ensured they are doing that.
08:57On the economy, consumer confidence hit a four-year low this month.
09:02Can you help explain to the American people how tariffs will help them in the long run?
09:07Yeah, absolutely.
09:08And I'm grateful for the question.
09:09The American public will hear later this afternoon from the President directly on the topic of
09:14tariffs.
09:15And as you all know, April 2nd day, President Trump has proudly dubbed it Liberation Day
09:20for our country.
09:21What he means by that is it will be a day where the United States of America will no
09:25longer be ripped off by nations around this world.
09:28It will be a day where Americans finally see free and fair trade practices restored.
09:34We are no longer going to allow our allies, our competitors, and our adversaries to take
09:38advantage of American workers.
09:40And if you think about your hometown in the state that you grew up, Main Street looks
09:44a lot different today than it did many years ago.
09:47And President Trump wants to restore America as a manufacturing superpower around the globe.
09:52He wants products to be made right here in our great country with great, hardworking
09:57American hands that will ultimately result in higher wages and more money in the pockets
10:03of the American people.
10:04And he's also, in addition to tariffs, also determined to pass tax cuts later this year,
10:10as he did successfully in his first term, to put even more money back into the pockets
10:14of hardworking Americans.
10:15Peter.
10:16Caroline, if I can ask you very quickly about the information we've seen, just to set the
10:20predicate to all this.
10:21Has the President been briefed and physically seen the – he's seen all the details of
10:25the chat as printed by the Atlantic?
10:26I just spoke to the President about it, yes.
10:28Okay.
10:29Then let me ask you, if I can, very quickly.
10:30In the chat, Pete Hegsath, the Defense Secretary, details F-18s, tomahawks, some of the weapons
10:37that were used.
10:38He details the timing involved for this, all of which occurred 31 minutes before, as he
10:43says, F-18s would launch.
10:45The DOD manual details classified information as significant military plans, saying that
10:51is secret, that that's classified.
10:53So what about – there are no methods.
10:55There are no sources.
10:57But that's not what determines what's classified.
10:59So what is it about what Pete Hegsath wrote that makes you say this is not classified?
11:04Well, it's not just me saying that, Peter.
11:06It's the Secretary of Defense himself who is saying this as well.
11:10And he put out a very strong statement earlier today, listing all of the things that were
11:14not included in that message that he sent to the group.
11:17And again, this message – there was no classified information transmitted.
11:21There were no war plans discussed.
11:23Why did the Atlantic downgrade their allegation about war plans to attack plans?
11:28They're now playing word games because they know this was sensationalist spin from a reporter
11:33who is well known for doing this.
11:34We have said all along no war plans were discussed, no classified material was sent.
11:38You have the Secretary of Defense saying that.
11:40You have the director of the CIA, the director of national intelligence, the FBI director
11:45all testifying to that under oath, and they should be trusted with that.
11:49To be clear, Americans can make the decision for themselves, but whether – you said it's
11:53not war plans.
11:55Would you characterize these as military plans, military operation plans?
12:01I would characterize this messaging thread as a policy discussion, a sensitive policy
12:05discussion, surely, amongst high-level cabinet officials and senior staff.
12:10And I'm so glad, Peter, that you said the American public can decide for themselves.
12:14Because I think the American public should decide for themselves based on the outcome
12:18of this operation.
12:19And what happened in this operation?
12:21Terrorists that were allowed to run wild by the Biden administration were killed because
12:26of the direction and the determination of this president and his team.
12:30And this message also shows – this messaging thread also proved that President Trump has
12:35an incredibly dynamic team who is working incredibly hard, flying all over the world
12:40to secure world peace and to fix up the foreign policy crises that the previous administration
12:46left for this team to inherit.
12:48So to be clear, we all in this room and around the country would agree that we're glad
12:51no American service members were harmed and we're glad that the mission was a success.
12:55We'll stipulate that.
12:56But the president said that – Pete Hegseth said none of this was classified.
13:00So given the president has seen it now, and given the president understands that significant
13:04military plans are deemed classified as secret, how does the president view none of this,
13:10which details times and weapons and more, as being not classified?
13:15I've already been asked and answered this question.
13:18The president's thoughts on this remain the same today as they were yesterday, as
13:22well as the Secretary of Defense.
13:25This question has been asked and answered.
13:26There was no classified material discussed.
13:28Jackie.
13:29On what basis I was asking.
13:30Go ahead, Jackie.
13:31Thank you, Caroline.
13:32So why aren't launch times on a mission strike classified?
13:38Again, I would defer you to the Secretary of Defense's statement he put out this morning.
13:42There were various reasons he listed, things that were not included in that messaging thread
13:46that were not classified.
13:48Again, going back to the American public, do you trust the Secretary of Defense, who
13:51was nominated for this role, voted by the United States Senate into this role, who has
13:55served in combat, honorably served our nation in uniform, or do you trust Jeffrey Goldberg,
14:01who is a registered Democrat and an anti-Trump sensationalist reporter?
14:05This president and this national security team are putting our national security and
14:09the American people first.
14:11We are restoring American strength around the world, and the results of this operation
14:15speak for themselves.
14:16Putting aside Jeffrey Goldberg, though, just for American service members who are going
14:20to have to carry out these missions in the future, I guess the message that's coming
14:26from the response to all this that we're hearing is that nothing sensitive happened, and I
14:32guess the logical conclusion of that is that if these messages had gone out publicly prior
14:39to the launch, that that wouldn't have been a risk to service members.
14:43I don't know that they're comfortable with that.
14:44So can you explain, you know, had these messages been published, would the plans have moved
14:52forward?
14:53Would the launch have still taken off?
14:54What I can tell you is that the president, as the commander-in-chief of our United States
14:58Armed Forces, and Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is an incredible man and a war fighter
15:03himself, take the lives of our American service members with the utmost responsibility, and
15:09they would never do anything intentionally to put their lives at risk.
15:15And again, they are working hard on that every single day, and we are protecting our service
15:19members while also restoring peace throughout this globe.
15:23It's something the previous administration has not done.
15:26And I would just add one more point.
15:28We are not going to be lectured about national security and American troops by Democrats
15:34and the mainstream media who turned the other cheek when the Biden administration, because
15:38of their incompetence, left 13 service members dead in Afghanistan, and not a single person
15:44in the previous administration was held accountable for that botched withdrawal.
15:48Joe Biden said, in fact, it was a great operation.
15:52That is despicable.
15:53It's unacceptable to this president and this secretary of defense.
15:56The national security advisor has taken responsibility for this inadvertent number being added to
16:01the messaging thread.
16:02But above all, we take the lives of our troops, safety, security, prosperity around the globe
16:07with the utmost seriousness.
16:08On Goldberg's intentions, do you believe that he would release that to embarrass the administration
16:12ahead of the worldwide threats?
16:14Jennifer, go ahead.
16:15Given what you've said about the president's trust in his national security team, can you
16:20say definitively that no one will lose their jobs?
16:23No one will lose their job at all because of this signal situation?
16:26What I can say definitively is what I just spoke to the president about, and he continues
16:30to have confidence in his national security team.
16:34One more.
16:35Can I ask one more, Karen?
16:36Targets in Yemen on March 15th, can you say where 100% of the targets that were planned
16:43for March 15th, were they all destroyed?
16:45Because that would be an indication if some of them were moved, but they were not all
16:48hit, that maybe perhaps some of the enemies were able to get some of the information in
16:53that signal.
16:54What I can say about the operation is what the Department of Defense has put out there.
16:57I would refer to them for any further operational details.
17:01There have been more than 100 strikes conducted against Houthi targets, and they have hit
17:08key Houthi leaders, air defense systems, command and control nodes, headquarters, weapons manufacturing
17:13and storage facilities, and these operations will continue until the freedom of navigation
17:18in our seas is restored and U.S. shipping can safely transmit without the fear of attack.
17:23Again, we believe that this has been a very successful operation thus far, and it will
17:28continue until this administration feels it no longer has to, and these terrorists
17:32have been taken out, which again is something the previous administration should have done,
17:36but they didn't, and now we've inherited this crisis.
17:38Steven.
17:39Thank you, Caroline.
17:40I'd like to clarify something about the investigation and also ask about some conservative commentary.
17:45On the investigation, Mike Waltz said last night that he had spoken to Elon Musk about
17:50figuring out how Jeffrey Goldberg's number got in his phone.
17:53You mentioned the NSC and the White House Counsel's Office investigating.
17:56Can you just clarify who is investigating, who's leading that?
17:59And also, Dave Portnoy, who endorsed President Trump, said today that he thinks that Mike
18:06Waltz should leave.
18:07Could you respond to that?
18:09Sure.
18:10Great respect for Dave Portnoy, but I just answered that previous question from Jennifer.
18:15As for your original question about who's leading looking into the messaging thread,
18:20the National Security Council, the White House Counsel's Office, and also, yes, Elon Musk's
18:25team, Elon Musk has offered to put his technical experts on this to figure out how this number
18:30was inadvertently added to the chat, again, to take responsibility and ensure this can
18:34never happen again.
18:35Caroline.
18:36I have two questions.
18:37One on a follow-up on something you just said, but since we have these messages released
18:41and you said that the President has now personally reviewed them, in the chat at one point, Pete
18:46Hexhead wrote, 14, 15 strike drones on target, and in all caps, he said, this is when the
18:51first bombs will definitely drop.
18:54Does the President feel that he was misled by his National Security Advisors, whoever
18:58it was that told him there was no classified information in there, now that he's seen these
19:01messages?
19:02I've now been asked and answered this question three times by the both of you, and I've given
19:07you my answer.
19:08The President feels the same today as he did yesterday.
19:09Sorry, on my follow-up on what you had just said.
19:12Go ahead, Philip.
19:13I have a follow-up.
19:14Caitlin, I'm not taking your follow-up.
19:15I have a follow-up on something you just said, though, Caroline, that's regarding Jeffrey
19:18Goldsberg.
19:19Caitlin, I'm not taking your follow-up.
19:20Philip, go ahead.
19:21I've called on you.
19:23Does the President feel the frustration that Europe wasn't doing more police waterways
19:26in their backyard, noting in that signal thread that 40 percent of European trade goes through
19:31the Suez Canal?
19:33Does the President share that opinion and frustration?
19:35And then going forward, should the Europeans be responsible for policing that waterway?
19:40Well, the President was asked this question yesterday by the pool in the Cabinet Room,
19:44and he answered this question.
19:45He said yes.
19:47He believes that Europe has been, as the Vice President put it, freeloading on the backs
19:52of American taxpayers and off the backs of the United States of America, and he wants
19:56to ensure that Europe pays their fair share.
19:58He's always been very honest and upfront about that, and I think the Vice President shares
20:02those concerns with him as well.
20:04Can I have one more?
20:06Sure.
20:07You know, enlisted soldiers, sailors, and Marines would face consequences if they shared
20:13this type of information inadvertently with a reporter.
20:17Can you tell us more why the President is so willing to give Mike Woltz a mulligan here?
20:22Again, I have now been asked an answer of this same question using different language
20:26multiple times.
20:27If anybody has another question, there's a lot of different things going on in the world.
20:31We have tariffs possibly being implemented later today.
20:34The President is going to talk about that at 4 o'clock this afternoon.
20:37Sure.
20:38Okay.
20:39Thank you for taking my question.
20:40I wanted to first and foremost thank the Administration for the Election Integrity Executive Order
20:45because so many journalists for four years were banned from talking about this very subject,
20:49so thank you to the Administration for that.
20:52My question is, yesterday, President Trump, when signing the order, said that there is
20:55more to come when it comes to election integrity.
20:58Would that include same-day voting and hand-counted paper ballots?
21:03And why are Democrats so against election integrity measures like, obviously, approval
21:09of citizenship when it comes to voting in a United States election?
21:12Well, it's a very good question.
21:14You'll have to ask the Democrats why they're against so many common-sense things, not just
21:17mandating voter ID.
21:19Why are they against men and women's sports?
21:20Why are they against deporting foreign terrorists from American soil who have been designated
21:26a foreign terrorist organization?
21:27I'm referring to Tren de Aragua.
21:29As for the Election Integrity Executive Order that the President signed yesterday, this
21:33is in an effort to restore trust in American elections.
21:36There were more than 10 steps taken, 10 executive actions taken throughout this one order.
21:41It directs the Department – or the Attorney General, rather, in Homeland Security to
21:45prevent non-citizens from any involvement in administering elections.
21:49There's also another host of actions.
21:50We can provide the fact sheet for you.
21:52But it's a very strong Election Integrity Executive Order, and the President would also
21:56like to see Congress do something about this very important issue.
21:59And about Judge Goldberg, Caroline?
22:01Sure, go ahead.
22:02Caroline, the Republicans and Democrats alike have been expressing some concern about the
22:07frequency with which senior Trump officials have been using the Signal app.
22:11Has there been discussion, or will there be a review, about how often they use Signal?
22:16And if you could explain to us how they might be considering other applications to get away
22:23from something like this happening again.
22:25Sure.
22:26Well, again, first of all, Signal has been an approved app for government use.
22:29It's an encryptive app, and as I said, it's the most safe and efficient way of communicating,
22:35especially when people can't be in a SCIF or inside a room physically together.
22:40I think, as the President said yesterday, he wishes that everybody could be in the room,
22:44and it's our goal to ensure that everybody can be.
22:47But again, no classified information was discussed in this chat, and any time classified information
22:52is discussed amongst high-level officials across this administration, secure lines of
22:57communication are used, including, by the way, our Special Envoy Steve Whitkoff, who
23:03I understand the Wall Street Journal erroneously reported that he was on this Signal chat on
23:07a personal device while in Moscow.
23:09That is absolutely false.
23:12Steve Whitkoff did not have his personal device, nor did he have his government device with
23:16him.
23:17He was given a classified protected server by the United States government, and he was
23:21very careful about his communications when he was in Russia.
23:25So rest assured to the American public, this administration is taking every precaution
23:29when it comes to protecting our national security.
23:32And that's why the American people re-elected this President, because they know that our
23:36national security is in good hands with the President of the United States.
23:40Speaking of the Vice President, I understand he's going to be speaking any moment now.
23:44I would hate to counter-program the Vice President of the United States.
23:47You'll also hear from the President at 3 o'clock.
23:49He will be honoring Women's History at the Women's History Month celebration.
23:53We have a lot of great women across our Cabinet who will be in attendance, so we'll see you
23:57all there.
23:58And then you'll also hear from the President again at 4 o'clock when he talks about tariffs.
24:01So plenty of time for more questions.
24:03Sorry it's a bit shorter today, guys.
24:04We'll see you later.