CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Grills Karoline Leavitt at First WH Briefing: ‘How Is the Administration Deciding Which Laws To Follow and Which Ones To Ignore?’
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was grilled by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins during her first press conference on Tuesday, with Collins accusing the White House of not following the law.
During her first press briefing, Leavitt defended President Donald Trump firing 17 inspectors general in a surprising move that has caused controversy. Collins suggested the move violates law and the administration is picking and choosing which laws to follow.
Collins also suggested Trump may have had a personal vendetta against some prosecutors who worked on investigations into him.
Check out the full exchange below:
KATILAN COLLINS: “The administration fired several inspectors general without giving Congress the 30 day legally required notification that they were being fired. I think only two were left at DHS and the DOJ, and yesterday we saw several prosecutors were fired from the Justice Department, who worked on the investigations into the president. As you know, they are career prosecutors, therefore they are afforded civil service protections. How is the administration deciding which laws to follow and which ones to ignore?”
KAROLINE LEAVITT: “So it is the belief of the White House and the White House counsel’s office that the president was within his executive authority to do that. He is the executive of the executive branch and therefore he has the power to fire anywhere within the executive branch that he wishes to. There’s also a case that went before the Supreme Court in 2020, Scalia Law LLC vs. the Bureau Protection. I would advise you to look at that case, and that’s the legality that this White House has rested on.”
COLLINS: “So you’re confident that if they bring lawsuits against you, the prosecutors who were fired, that you will succeed?”
LEAVITT: “We will in court, yes.”
COLLINS: “And did he personally direct this, given they worked on the classified documents investigation and the election interference investion?”
LEAVITT: “This was a memo that went out by the presidential office and the president is the leader of this White House, so yes.”
Watch above via Fox News.
