Karoline Leavitt Tears Down NYT Reporter Over Trump–Putin Question [WATCH]

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt clashed with a New York Times reporter on Tuesday after being questioned about President Donald Trump’s decision to make a private phone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin following meetings with European leaders, as reported by the Gateway Pundit.

During the White House press briefing, New York Times correspondent Sean McCreesh asked why the president did not take the call in front of European leaders.

Trump had said during a Fox News interview earlier in the day that it “would be disrespectful to President Putin” to do so.

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As previously reported, Trump explained that Putin had not communicated with the White House “for years” under the Biden administration and also refused to engage with European leaders. “It’s a fractured relationship,” Trump said.

Leavitt quickly dismissed the reporter’s line of questioning.

“With all due respect, only a reporter from the New York Times would ask a question like that.”

She went on to highlight what she described as the progress achieved during Trump’s meetings with European heads of state at the White House.

“The President met with all of these European leaders at the White House 48 hours after sitting down with President Putin on American soil. In fact, there was so much progress in the readout that was given to these European leaders immediately following his meeting with President Putin that every single one of them got on a plane 48 hours later and flew to the United States of America.”

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Leavitt cited the responses from several leaders following the meeting.

She noted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, “It was a very good conversation. It was really good. We spoke about very sensitive points.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also praised the discussions, saying:

“It was the president, only because of the President that this deadlock was broken with President Putin by starting a dialog.”

“These leaders, who this war is in their backyard, are very grateful that the President took that call and that he was there to provide them with a readout of Russia’s thinking on this, something that was not done by the previous administration at all,” Leavitt said.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt just DESTROYED a reporter from The New York Times for his question

“With all due respect, only a reporter from The New York Times would ask a question like that.” pic.twitter.com/IebVbObtSx

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 19, 2025

Trump had met with Putin in Alaska on Friday before the White House summit with European leaders on Monday. Following those meetings, Trump told reporters that his conversation with Putin would pave the way for direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

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