AWK-ward! Trump Spox Karoline Leavitt Fumbles Simple Question in Cringe Moment at Briefing

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt whiffed badly in a cringe moment when she promised an answer but came up empty after some awkward hemming and hawing.

Leavitt’s predecessors in the last administration were well-known for the phone-book-thick briefing binder that would accompany them to the podium, tabbed to the nines with canned administration responses to any conceivable question that might come up during the daily news conference.

While Leavitt is known to rely less on the briefing book and totes a considerably slimmer version to the lectern, every once in a while, the thing comes in handy — but only if you’ve done the preparation.

At Tuesday’s White House press briefing, Leavitt’s binder failed her spectacularly when Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason asked what would normally be a simple question that would elicit a canned statement.

Mason asked for a White House reaction to the election results in South Korea, and Leavitt confidently assured him she had one — and then…:

REUTERS CORRESPONDENT JEFF MASON: Also, in Asia, does the White House have a reaction to the results of the election in South Korea?

TRUMP PRESS SECRETARY KAROLINE LEAVITT: Yes, we do. In fact, let me find it here for you. (SHUFFLES THROUGH BRIEFING BOOK) It should be somewhere in here (SHUFFLES MORE).

(MUTTERS).

We do not, but I will get you one, Jeff. (LAUGHS)

Incumbent South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol — whose abortive attempt to declare martial law  in December — was succeeded by opposition candidate Lee Jae-myung in a decisive victory over Yoon ally Kim Moon-soo.

The White House later emailed Reuters a statement on the election:

“The US-ROK Alliance remains ironclad. While South Korea had a free and fair election, the United States remains concerned and opposed to Chinese interference and influence in democracies around the world,” a White House official said in an emailed response to a Reuters request for comment made at an earlier White House briefing.

Watch above via The White House.