‘Wouldn’t You Say?’ Karoline Leavitt Insists Trump Is Right About ‘Regime Change’ In Iran

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt got into a back-and-forth squabble with Washington Post reporter Michael Birnbaum on Wednesday over whether or not “regime change” has taken place in Iran.

“I mean, has it not? Their entire leadership has been killed, and nobody has really seen or legitimately heard from this alleged new leader,” Leavitt cut off Birnbaum to say during a press briefing. “So would you say there’s been a change in the regime?”

“There’s been a change in the regime leadership—” Birnbaum started to respond before Leavitt jumped in again.

“There’s been a change in the regime leadership, which is what the president said, so thank you for confirming he was right,” Leavitt said.

Birnbaum tweaked his question and continued forward, asking if President Donald Trump felt he’d “achieved a leadership level or the personnel in place” that he was satisfied with. Leavitt said it was too early to tell.

That exchange came a day after Trump said Operation Epic Fury had successfully eliminated Iran’s top leaders.

“We have, really, a regime change,” the president said. “You know, this is a change in the regime, because the leaders are all very different than the ones we started off with that created all these problems.”

His answer came after joint U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the start of the war, as well as dozens of other Iranian leaders in the weeks after. Khamenei’s son Mojtaba Khamenei was named his successor, but has not been seen since apparently suffering a major injury during one of the strikes.

Leavitt said what’s left of Iran’s leadership has been scrambling to cut a deal with the Trump administration in recent days, after the president threatened to bomb the country’s power plants one by one.

“You’re beginning to see the regime look for an exit ramp,” Leavitt said. “They recognize they are being crushed. Their ability to attack American and allied forces, as well as their ability to defend their own territory, is dwindling literally hour by hour.”

Watch above via Fox News.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the reporter who engaged with Leavitt as Tyler Pager of The New York Times. It has been updated to properly identify the questioner.

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