Journalists facing the ire of those in power is not news anymore because it’s become so common in Donald Trump’s America, but the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt hit a new low when she insulted a reporter by saying “your mom did” when he asked her who decided on Budapest for the venue of proposed talks between Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
Leavitt posted the exchange on social media with a screenshot of the conversation with S.V Dáte of the Huffington Post.
“For context, S.V. Dáte of the Huffington Post is not a journalist interested in the facts. He is a left-wing hack who has consistently attacked President Trump for years and constantly bombards my phone with Democrat talking points,” Leavitt wrote on her verified X (formerly known as Twitter) handle.
“Just take a look at @svdate’s feed, it reads like an anti-Trump personal diary. Here is my full response to his “inquiry.” Activists who masquerade as real reporters do a disservice to the profession,” she added.
Date, White House correspondent for HuffPost, gave it back in a thread on X.
“The press secretary is tossing out ad hominem attacks, hoping to discredit me and HuffPost.
So here is some actual context: I’ve been doing this professionally for a dozen years before she was even born,” he wrote.
“I didn’t come to DC until I was in my 40s, and started as an editor at NPR. I learned so much about radio (to this day I wince when I hear “phone tape” on the air) and simple writing. But I wanted to be a reporter again, which led me to National Journal and the White House beat,” he wrote in another post.
He also doubled down on his criticism of the US President.
“Trump is not “conservative” or “liberal” or any of that. He is a conman and, now, a criminal who is moving us every day closer to an autocracy,” he wrote.
“That’s not bias. That’s 40 years in this business, 30 of which were watching small “d” democracy work within the norms established over two centuries,” he added.
He signed off the thread with: “Ms. Leavitt may not like my questions. That’s fine. I have a right and a responsibility to ask them. This is still America.”
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