In a rare second White House press briefing of the week, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt largely avoided the disingenuous nonsense the liberal media have spewed this week about the federal government shutdown and declarations that Republicans are to blame and falsely claiming Democrats support free health care for illegal immigrants. But towards the end of the briefing, she ran into such partisan hijinks from CBS and the U.K.’s Independent.
CBS News Radio’s Linda Kenyon first raised this issue in the briefing’s waning moments, huffing there’s “a disconnect in the [GOP’s] messaging” with regard to the facts because “U.S. already prohibits” “giving health care to illegal immigrants.”
Leavitt was not having an ounce of this partisan spin and offered an extensive explanation about how Medicaid picks up the emergency room tabs for those unable to pay...which would include illegal immigrants and wreaked havoc on major cities
A few minutes later, The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg had the briefing’s final question and wondered what the administration believes hospitals should do with illegal immigrants who arrive at their doorstep (i.e. turn them away, leaving them to fate):
In between them, PBS News Hour’s new White House correspondent Elizabeth Landers — who had previously been with CNN, Vice, and Scripps — wondered if acts of political violence such as Charlie Kirk’s assassination has given the administration reason to chance its stance on “gun safety.”
Leavitt saw right through this trap:
Speaking of partisan traps, ABC’s Mary Bruce huffed about why would the administration consider federal layoffs during this government shutdown when no one was laid off during a shutdown in President Trump’s first term:
She also seemed to take offense with another AI-generated video posted on President Trump’s Truth Social account. This time, it starred Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought. Leavitt reminded Bruce of a little thing called humor.
Elsewhere and earlier in the briefing, Bloomberg’s Kate Sullivan touted the United Nations claim about Israel committing genocide against Gazans:
Shifting to conservative media and other journalists from credible news organizations, our friend Amanda Head from Just the News led off the Q&A in the “new media seat.”
Her questions touched on the unrest on the far-left unrest in Portland, Oregon and then timing for federal layoffs if the shutdown drags on:
Fox’s Peter Doocy came with an important question about Project 2025 and the dance the Trump team in the campaign versus now in the White House:
In true Doocy fashion, he also pivoted to something no other reporter would ask about (click “expand”):
DOOCY: And just because there’s so much shutdown talk, something different. What do you guys think about the NFL’s decision —
LEAVITT: Oh, boy.
DOOCY: — to name Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl halftime performer, somebody who has not scheduled shows in the us because he says that he is worried that ICE is going to come and arrest his fans.
LEAVITT: Well, look, I know there are many in this room who are very anxious to hear the President’s response to Bad Bunny being the halftime show, so I won’t get ahead of him. I won’t reveal what he feels about this. Next time you all ask him a question, you’re welcome to do that. I have my own feelings on that, but that’s not what I’m up here to talk about. As far as ICE being at the Super Bowl, as far as I’m aware, there’s no tangible plan for that in store right now. However, of course, this administration is always going to arrest and deport illegal immigrants when we find them. If they are criminals, we’re going to do the right thing by our country.
Another genuine, non-softball question from conservative media came when our buddy Mike Carter of Newsmax asked about the legality in the President “declar[ing] war against international drug cartels”:
And finally, NewsNation’s Libbey Dean wondered if the layoffs will still happen if the shutdown were to end soon (and also, separately, on the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of a birth control drug):
To see the relevant transcript from the October 3 briefing, click here.
