Jake Tapper has called out White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s “lies” after she defended Donald Trump’s senior moment.
Trump, 79, called Greenland “Iceland” multiple times during a rambling speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.
“I know we’d be there for them. I don’t know that they’d be there for us with all of the money we expend, with all of the blood, sweat and tears… They’re not there for us on Iceland, I can tell you,” Trump said.
“Their stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland.”
When NewsNation reporter Libbey Dean pointed out Trump had “appeared to mix up Greenland and Iceland around three times,” Leavitt retaliated on X.
“No, he didn’t, Libby,” she wrote, misspelling Dean’s first name.
“His written remarks referred to Greenland as a ‘piece of ice’ because that’s what it is. You’re the only one mixing anything up here,” she wrote, bypassing the fact that the journalist was referring to what Trump said, not what was written down.
She also included a Google Image search of Greenland, which is around 200 miles away from Iceland.
CNN host Tapper took to his social media pointing out that “your tax dollars” pay for the combative press secretary’s salary.
“OK, right, you know that was filmed right?” Tapper, seemingly bemused, asked to the camera in a pointed response to Leavitt. He then played footage of Trump saying “Iceland” three times.
Tapper said Leavitt’s behavior reminded him of a quote from 1984, George Orwell’s infamous dystopian novel, “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential demand.”
“We don’t have to reject the evidence of our eyes and ears, we know that he confused Greenland with Iceland,” the host said. “I mean, you can lie to us if you want, but I don’t know why it’s worth it.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
CNN’s media reporter Brian Stelter called out Leavitt’s deflection to cover up her boss’ gaffe.
“Intriguing: A NewsNation reporter pointed out that Trump ‘appeared to mix up Greenland and Iceland around three times,’” Stelter wrote on X. “Leavitt now claims ‘he didn’t,’ even though everyone heard him do it. But she’s pointing to ‘his written remarks’ instead of the video.”
Leavitt’s loyalty appeared unchanged after Trump called her out in his lengthy White House speech on Tuesday marking the first year of his second term in office.
Trump held a book titled “Accomplishments,” and repeated his usual stance that the U.S. is now “the hottest country in the world” thanks to his policies.
However he continued to falter on the sore point of his economic success, and threw his PR team under the bus.
“We’ve had the best stock market in history, the best 401Ks in history. And we inherited a mess. The numbers that we inherited were way up. And now we brought them, almost all of them, way down,” he insisted. “I mean, I’m not getting—maybe I have bad public relations people, but we’re not getting it across.”
At the end of December, Leavitt, 28, announced she and her husband, Nicholas Riccio, 60, are expecting their second child this year.
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