In a heated exchange on Thursday, Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for former President Donald Trump, concurred with the notion that CNN should be sold to new proprietors. This comment followed a tense dialogue with Kaitlan Collins, the network’s prominent White House correspondent.

Collins pressed Leavitt on Trump’s economic track record, prompting Leavitt to assert that the press has been more aggressive with her than with past spokespersons regarding President Joe Biden’s economic performance.

The discussion became particularly animated over the topic of inflation, with Collins acknowledging that inflation was indeed high under Biden. However, Leavitt swiftly countered, claiming that the media did not report extensively on the high inflation rates during Biden’s presidency.

As Collins attempted to pivot to a different question, Leavitt declined to engage further on that topic and moved on. However, later in the briefing, Leavitt circled back to critique CNN in a pointed remark.

This incident occurs against the backdrop of a contentious battle over the ownership of CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. Notably, President Trump expressed a desire for CNN to be sold as part of the ongoing negotiations, a sentiment he shared with reporters earlier this week.

It comes amid a bitter takeover fight for the network’s owner, Warner Bros Discovery. The President told reporters on Wednesday that he would like to see CNN sold as part of the deal.

Leavitt had been asked about the President’s comments 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.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt agreed that CNN should be sold off after a snippy back and forth Thursday with the network’s star White House correspondent

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins (bottom left) can be seen in the front row with her hand raised at Thursday’s White House briefing. Her question on the economy appeared to rile up Leavitt

During Trump’s whirlwind of a speech Tuesday night in Pennsylvania, the President defended his tariff policy saying that Americans could make do with fewer of some products – using pencils and dolls as examples. 

‘You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter. Two or three is nice. You don’t need 37 dolls,’ he said. 

Collins asked Leavitt: ‘If the economy is as strong as the President says it is, then why is he telling parents two weeks before Christmas that they should only buy two or three dolls for their children?’ 

Leavitt said that Trump was simply saying that Americans should strive to buy US products.

‘Maybe you’ll pay a dollar or two more, but you will get better quality and you will be supporting your fellow Americans by buying American and that’s what the President was saying,’ the press secretary answered.

She then tussled with Collins over inflation, claiming that under Trump it had gone from 2.9 percent to 2.5 percent.

The Consumer Price Index has inflation 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.

‘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.’

The former president’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was consistently questioned about his handling of the economy.

It is widely understood that Kamala Harris lost the presidential race because she could not distance herself from Biden’s bad messaging on the issue. 

‘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.

Trump told reporters Wednesday at a roundtable with tech executives that Collins’s network’s management was ‘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.

Netflix has unveiled a $83 billion deal for Warner Bros and the more Trump-friendly Paramount has launched a rival $108 billion bid.