Karoline Leavitt Issues Brazen Denial of Trump Iceland-Greenland Flub Heard Round the World
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt lashed out at NewsNation’s Libbey Dean on Wednesday while brazenly denying that President Donald Trump referred to Greenland as Iceland during his speech in Davos, Switzerland that morning.
As Mediaite previously reported, Trump erroneously identified the landmass that he wants the United States to acquire as Iceland several times during his address:
“I’m helping Europe, I am helping NATO, and until the last few days when I told them about Iceland, they loved me,” Trump said of NATO allies.
Trump repeated his error one minute later — as part of an attack on NATO.
“I don’t know that they’d be here for us,” Trump said. “They’re not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you. I mean, our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland’s already cost us a lot of money.”
On social media, Dean also pointed out the mix-up, and incited Leavitt’s wrath as a result.
“No he didn’t, Libby [sic]. His written remarks referred to Greenland as a ‘piece of ice because that’s what it is,” fired back the press secretary on X. “You’re the only one mixing anything up here.”
A number of observers were puzzled and/or astonished by Leavitt’s assertion.
“So the White House explanation is he was saying ‘ice land’ instead multiple times?” inquired CBS News’ Kathryn Watson.
“WH now claiming president did not confuse Greenland for Iceland. He most certainly did. You can hear it for yourself. He referred to Greenland as a ‘piece of ice’, multiple times, but also, very clearly, muddled it with Iceland, the country,” submitted The Economist‘s Shashank Joshi.
“He literally said Iceland! Libbey Dean is not the only one who noticed. We have eyes and ears,” protested reporter Jake Lahut.
Watch the president’s flub above via Fox Business.
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