Even devout Christians like Karoline Leavitt have their moments of weakness.
The White House press secretary got curt about a CBS News anchor when she joined President Donald Trump for a sit-down with conservative news outlet Daily Caller last week.
“The woman on Face the Nation is so bad... Margaret Brennan. What do you think of her?” Trump asked Leavitt at one point during the lengthy interview, referring to the host of the CBS show.
“She’s stupid. You can put that on the record,” Leavitt responded.
“She’s nasty,” Trump added, prompting a “Yes” from his press secretary.
Trump proceeded to praise Secretary of State Marco Rubio for “handling” Brennan, hailing him as “good” and “smart.”
The president was likely referring to Rubio’s tense face-offs with Brennan earlier this year, when she grilled him over intelligence that led to the U.S. strike on nuclear sites in Iran and Vice President JD Vance’s controversial speech at the Munich Security Conference.
Rubio and Brennan sparred on the air in June as they dissected the Trump administration’s rationale for striking Iranian nuclear facilities. In another interview, aired February, Rubio defended Vance’s speech in Munich that accused European leaders of censorship and opening the “floodgates” to immigrants.
“The level of hatred, I’m surprised he goes on there, the level of hatred when they’re asking the question,” Trump said of Rubio’s appearances on Face the Nation.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Face the Nation, Paramount, and Karoline Leavitt for comment.
Though the sharp jab at Brennan was in character for the famously fiery White House press secretary, who called reporters “a-----es” in March, it stood in stark contrast to her alter ego as a Jesus-loving Christian who often wears a cross around her neck to heated press briefings spent berating the media.
In an April interview with and the Christian Broadcasting Network, Leavitt revealed that her team says a prayer before each presser.
“I think that team prayer before is just a moment to be silent and still and ask God for confidence and the ability to articulate my words, knowledge, prayer,and protection, and it is a nice moment to reset,” she said.
Leavitt’s cross necklace has also become such a fixture in her press briefings that eyebrows get raised when the pendant comes off, including during a discussion of the notorious Epstein files and in the wake of a biting South Park episode that spoofed her.
“I try to wear it every day,” she told the Stanley M. Herzog Foundation about her cross necklace. “Because I love Jesus and I believe my faith is the reason I’m here.”
