Donald Trump’s firebrand press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said it was “incredibly refreshing” to watch her boss and his deputy publicly humiliate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in front of the whole world.
Leavitt was present when Trump and Vice President JD Vance ripped into their so-called ally in the Oval Office on Friday. The rowdy meeting, which reportedly culminated in Zelensky and his entourage getting kicked out of the White House, sent diplomatic shockwaves around the world.
In the United States, Trump and Vance’s behavior drew condemnation outside of Republican circles. But the MAGAverse, predictably, toed the party line and Leavitt, speaking to Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Monday, was no different. “Frankly, it was incredibly refreshing to watch the president and the vice president stand up for America and to have that be before the world to see,” she told the host.
Earlier in the segment Leavitt claimed the brutal shut-down of the Ukrainian president was a natural response to his alleged ungratefulness for American aid in his fight against Vladimir Putin’s invasion. “President Zelensky, unfortunately, was ungrateful to the American taxpayer,” she said.
This was also the claim made by Vance during the Oval Office showdown. Both he and Leavitt failed to clarify that the actor turned politician has publicly thanked the U.S. at least 33 times, according to CNN.
“And frankly, putting aside my job as President Trump’s spokeswoman, as an American citizen, it was incredibly profound to watch our president actually stand up for us, for the taxpaying American, law-abiding citizen who is sick and tired of seeing hundreds of billions of dollars go out the door every single year when we have real problems in our country here,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt added: “Unfortunately, President Zelensky is not in the mindset to negotiate peace.”
Her sentiment echoed that of Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, who also praised his boss on Fox News.
He said that the shouting match inside the White House was one of the “great moments in the history of American diplomacy.”
