White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was stunned Wednesday when a reporter challenged President Trump’s assertion that he has been falsely called a racist.
Ms. Leavitt then fired back at CBS News’ Ed O’Keefe for asking the question:
“You’re kidding, right? I will pull a plethora of examples. I’m going to get my team in that room to start going through the internet of radical Democrats throughout the years, who have falsely accused this president of being a racist.”
She wasn’t done, calling out the reporters sitting before her in the White House briefing room for trying to play the race card against Mr. Trump.
“I’m sure there are many people in this room and on network television across the country who have accused him of the same,” she said. “In fact, I know that because I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
The White House later provided examples, such as Mr. O’Keefe writing on social media in 2019: “WATCH: President Trump receives backlash and support over his racist tweets.”
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Other incidents the White House cited included:
• In 2020, then-CNN anchor Dom Lemon opened his primetime show by declaring, “The President of the United States is racist. A lot of us already knew that.”
• In 2019, The Washington Post deemed President Trump’s immigration rhetoric to be “racist” and a “pattern.”
• In 2018, The Boston Globe ran a headline based solely on opinions from Democratic activists that read: “Is Trump a racist?”
The White House cited these Democratic lawmakers who it said frequently called Mr. Trump a racist:
• House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York called Mr. Trump a “racial arsonist” in 2017.
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• Then-Sen. Kamala Harris of California said of Mr. Trump in 2019, “You call racism what it is.”
• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said on Wednesday, “Donald Trump is … a racist and a neo-Nazi.”
• Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas said in July, “Trump never misses an opportunity to be racist.”
• Rep. Gil Cisneros of California on Feb. 8 called Mr. Trump a “horrible, bitter, racist man.”
• Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas said in March of 2025 that Trump is certainly making racism great again.”
Mr. O’Keefe’s question came just hours before Mr. Trump hosted a Black History Month reception at the White House.
At issue was Mr. Trump’s statement honoring Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader who died Tuesday at the age of 84. “Despite the fact that I’m falsely and consistently called a racist by the scoundrels and lunatics on the radical left Democrats, all, it was always my pleasure to help Jesse along the way.”
“Where or when does the president believe he’s been falsely called racist?” said Mr. O’Keefe.
Ms. Leavitt also responded by saying that Mr. Trump had advanced opportunity and prosperity for all Americans through record tax cuts, through the Trump Accounts that “all Americans can access regardless of race.”
“The president has also awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding to strengthen educational outcomes at Historically Back Colleges and Universities across the country … and is protecting the hard-earned benefits of the 2.4 million Black veterans who honorably served in our nation’s armed forces by reducing the backlog of veterans waiting for their VA benefits,” Ms. Leavitt said.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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