Karoline Leavitt Says White House Did Not ‘Pressure’ ABC To Suspend Jimmy Kimmel
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed on Saturday that the White House had no hand in ABC’s decision to suspend comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show.
Kimmel’s suspension came after a monologue where he said, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Leavitt appeared on Fox News as Kayleigh McEnany’s first guest for her new show, Saturday in America.
“I have seen no reporting that there was pressure from the White House on Jimmy Kimmel,” McEnany said. “There were public comments made by [FCC Chair Brendan] Carr, but no indication that there was a discussion with Sinclair or the like, but that would be lost upon much of the media.”
McEnany then read former President Barack Obama’s social media post about the Trump administration muzzling or firing “reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.”
“Did I miss something or is president Obama keyed into the inner workings of the Trump administration?” McEnany asked.
“With all due respect to former President Obama, he has no idea what he’s talking about,” Leavitt answered. “The decision to fire Jimmy Kimmel and to cancel his show came from executives at ABC. That has now been reported. And I can assure you, it did not come from the White House, and there was no pressure given from the president of the United States.”
Leavitt continued:
How do I know that, Kayleigh? Because I was with the president of the United States when this news broke in the United Kingdom…and I actually brought this news to President Trump’s attention. He had no idea this was happening. It was a decision that was made by ABC because Jimmy Kimmel chose to knowingly lie to his audience on his program about the death of a highly respected man when our country is in a state of mourning. That was a decision that he made, and he is now facing a consequence for that decision and for that lie.
Leavitt added that while Trump was”pleased” with ABC’s decision, “We had nothing to do with it.”
Watch above via Fox News.