CNN’s Brian Stelter Reviews Karoline Leavitt’s First WH Press Briefing as ‘Theater’: Trump ‘Just Minted a New TV Star’

CNN’s chief media analyst Brian Stelter praised White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s debut press briefing, commenting that President Donald Trump had “just minted a new TV star.”

Leavitt held her first White House Press Briefing Tuesday afternoon, opening with news about the drones spotted last month over New Jersey and other states. She criticized traditional media outlets, invited “new media voices” to apply for seats in the briefing room, got a fawning question from a far-right host, and fielded questions from reporters about Trump’s decisions to fire 17 inspectors general, freeze federal spending, initiate mass deportations, and rescind the security details for officials from his first administration who have criticized him.

Shortly after the briefing ended, CNN News Central anchors Brianna Keilar and Boris Sanchez brought on Stelter to analyze Leavitt’s performance. Keilar called this first briefing “long awaited” and noted that nothing could really compare to the “infamous” first one from Trump’s first term that resulted in Sean Spicer being memorably parodied on Saturday Night Live.

“How did you think that this press briefing went?” asked Keilar.

Stelter replied that it was “obvious” to view the briefing “as theater first.”

“Move over, Sean Hannity,” he said. “President Trump has a new number one publicist, right? The TV president has just minted a new TV star.”

Leavitt might be “the youngest press secretary ever, but she’s incredibly practiced at this,” said Stelter, reviewing her performance as “incredibly smooth.”

“If you’re a Democrat right now, you’re asking yourself, where is our Karoline Leavitt?” he continued. “Who’s going to push back against Trump as effectively as she promotes him?”

He highlighted how Leavitt had deployed “a Trump tactic” when she “dangled some news at the beginning” with the update about the drone story. “She literally dangled a shiny object in front of the press corps,” he said, holding up his own hobbyist drone and noting that many of his neighbors in New Jersey were “still very skeptical about that explanation.”

That tidbit of news “was a distraction,” said Stelter, and there were “so many more important points” that would be coming so “we need to watch for those distractions in the coming months.”

Stelter also accused Leavitt of exaggerating, “just like her boss,” when she claimed Trump had an “overwhelming” mandate.

“The results of the election don’t show that,” he added.

She also “insulted former President Joe Biden in a very personal way,” which Stelter assessed as something that some of her predecessors in that job “probably cringed” to hear, “but she views the job differently.”

“She is there for an audience of one, and in that way it was incredibly effective,” he concluded, saying that he thought perhaps the “most important question was shouted at the end,” when a reporter tried to ask about the Medicare portal being down in all 50 states.

“This is an emergency right now, affecting millions of Americans who are worried about their finances, about their welfare,” said Stelter. “And she didn’t have answers. She essentially said, ‘We’ll get back to you. Trust us. We’re going to figure it out.'”

Watch the clip above via CNN.