White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt recently suggested that CNN should consider a change in ownership following a spirited exchange with the network’s prominent White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins. In their dialogue, Collins challenged Leavitt on President Donald Trump’s economic achievements. Leavitt countered by asserting that the press was scrutinizing her more intensely than they had her predecessors regarding President Joe Biden’s economic policies. Collins had inquired, “If the economy is truly robust as the president claims, why is he advising parents to limit their holiday purchases to just two or three dolls for their children a mere fortnight before Christmas?”

During a dynamic address in Pennsylvania on Tuesday evening, President Trump justified his tariff strategy by suggesting Americans could make do with fewer products, specifically mentioning items like pencils and dolls. He remarked, “Your daughter doesn’t need 37 dolls. Two or three are sufficient. You don’t need 37 dolls.” According to Leavitt, the president’s message was simply an encouragement for Americans to prioritize purchasing domestically made goods.

Leavitt elaborated, “You might spend an extra dollar or two, but the quality will be superior, and you’ll be supporting fellow Americans by buying American-made products.” She further engaged with Collins over the topic of inflation, noting that under President Trump’s administration, inflation had decreased from 2.9 percent to 2.5 percent. Currently, the Consumer Price Index indicates inflation rates hovering around 3 percent.

‘And I would remind you, when President Trump left office in his first term, inflation was 1.7 percent, and the previous administration jacked it up to a record-high 9 percent,’ Leavitt said. Collins argued that ‘nobody is saying it wasn’t high under Biden.’ ‘Well nobody reported it being high under Biden,’ Leavitt smarted.

‘My predecessor was standing at this podium, but now you want to ask me a lot of questions about it, which I’m happy to answer, but I will just add there’s a lot more scrutiny on this issue from this press corps than there was,’ she added. CNN in fact did report on Biden’s inflation problem, including several pieces in April 2024 blaring it was ‘Bad news for Biden.’

Biden’s White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was consistently questioned about the Democratic president’s handling of the economy and it’s widely understood that Vice President Kamala Harris lost the presidential race because she couldn’t distance herself from the then-president’s bad messaging on it. ‘My predecessor stood up at this podium and she said inflation doesn’t exist, she said the border was secure and people like you just took her at her word,’ Leavitt said, continuing to chide Collins. ‘And those were two utter lies.’

‘Everything I’m telling you is the truth backed by real, factual data and you don’t want to report on it because you want to push untrue narratives about the president,’ she said. When Collins attempted to switch the topic and ask another question, Leavitt refused and moved on. But she returned to the CNN journalist later in the briefing to insult her entire network.

Leavitt had been asked about Trump’s comments wading into the potential sale of CNN to the more Trump-friendly Paramount as part of a wider deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery when she saw her opportunity. ‘Well I think the president’s comments yesterday about the sale of CNN and new leadership is evidenced by my exchange with the CNN reporter in this room,’ Leavitt said.

Trump told reporters Wednesday at a roundtable with tech CEOs that he’d like to see CNN sold calling the network’s management ‘either corrupt or incompetent.’ ‘Their viewership has gone down, their ratings has declined and I think the president rightfully believes that network would benefit from new ownership,’ Leavitt added.