Karoline Leavitt savagely shuts down CNN’s Kaitlan Collins over embarrassing gotcha question

Thank you so much. Welcome back. Thank you. Two questions for you. If I can read two comments, one made by President Trump and one made by the Vice President on Iran. President Trump recently said, as far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them. They're liars. There's something wrong with them. They are cuckoo. They are scum, sick people, vicious, violent people. And then Vice President Vance went on Joe Rogan last night, and he said, I'm very frustrated by the Americans and, frankly, by people in other countries. So your response to these contradictions, because I think you can understand how that's confusing for Americans with this mixed messaging. And then second question for you, at least six Americans are still detained in Iran. Will President Trump make this conditional a point of condition in continuing these conversations with the country, as well as political prisoners and also people that are still being executed in Iran to this day? Sure. To your second question, I'll never create a red line or a condition on behalf of the President without his blessing. I haven't heard him say that, but obviously ensuring the return of Americans wrongfully detained or held hostage all over this world remains a priority for him, and he has done so in a tremendous way over the course of the last year and a half. Americans from all over the world have returned home, thanks to this President and the efforts of his national security team. To your first question about the comments between the President and the Vice President, respectfully, I do think you're taking comments from different times throughout this conflict and kind of asking me if these are contradictory of each other. I can tell you the President and Vice President are on the exact same page about where we are right now in this conflict. And the fact that you do see elements of what's remaining in the Iranian regime that are more willing to make a deal and then other elements who are not so maybe willing to make a deal shows that Operation Epic Fury was incredibly effective because we neutered their ability to communicate with one another, and they are a fragmented system. They are not the once very strong, powerful terrorist state that they were before this operation, which was one of the ultimate goals. So we'll continue to work through the process, and as I said, the President will hold them accountable when they turn their back on the words that they state to the United States, but he is always open to diplomacy at the very same time. Kaitlan. Thank you, Caroline. Sure. Regarding the President's speech tonight, he's been in office over 540 days now. If what he says is tonight is backed up by evidence, why hasn't anyone been charged? Well, he hasn't revealed it yet. He hasn't declassified the documents yet, and you will see what he says tonight, and then we'll move forward appropriately from there. So will charges be followed tonight from the Justice Department? I don't speak on behalf of the Justice Department, Kaitlan. You know that. Rachel. Will there be charges? You'll have to ask the Justice Department. I don't charge people. I just speak on behalf of the President. Rachel. Thanks, Caroline. Welcome back. Just a point of clarification really quick. Sure. On the staffer who's accused of profiting off of the President's speeches, you said he'll no longer be working here. Is he on administrative leave, or is he going to be fired after October? He's on unpaid administrative leave right now. Okay. And just to follow up on the President's speech tonight, I mean, we've been talking to a lot of Republicans over on Capitol Hill. They have said that focusing on the economy is the right way to go ahead of the midterm elections. They believe that's what voters care most about. What does the President say to Republicans who think that focusing on the 2020 election, election integrity, all of these issues right now is not the right approach so close to the election? Again, you guys have not heard the speech yet, so I would digress with the criticism until you actually hear what the President is going to say and what he's going to say when he addresses the American public. I would also add, again, that the administration, and especially this President, are able to walk and chew gum at the same time and tackle a number of issues on a number of different subjects every single day. We see that President do that, working around the clock on foreign policy, on domestic policy all of the time. You all report on it. You have to keep up with it, so I think you can agree with me on that point. And I would also add, the President will continue to be traveling all around the country to talk about the economy. We were just in Pennsylvania a couple weeks ago, touring a Mack truck facility, which has been greatly strengthened and enriched because of this President's economic policies over the last year and a half, and he loves doing that, and he will continue to do so. Jen, go ahead. We have seen, with the increased community strikes, a real decrease in traffic through – commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. What is the U.S. doing right now to facilitate flows through the Strait of Hormuz and preemptively address the risk that Houthis will actually choke off the Red Sea oil route, and that crisis will increase further before November? Well, two separate questions. First, let me address what's happening in the Strait right now. We know that there is a blockade of ships directed by the President for ships entering and departing Iranian ports only. This has been fully implemented and is in full force. This blockade was reimposed due to Iran's inability to honor their agreement with the United States of America. More than 10,000 U.S. sailors, Marines, and airmen, along with two aircraft carriers and more than 20 warships and dozens of aircraft, are executing the blockade mission as we speak. And during the first 24 hours of the blockade, U.S. CENTCOM has redirected two compliant commercial vessels and disabled one non-compliant vessel. So, look, the Strait is open for ships that are not traveling to and from Iranian ports specifically, and the U.S. Navy is there to ensure that can take place. With respect to gas prices, as you know, the price of oil right now is approximately $80 a barrel, maybe a little less. Before I came out here, that's what it was at. Gas prices are down approximately 60 cents a gallon off the peak of this conflict. And the President was honest with the American people from the beginning. There may be temporary disruptions in the oil market. But what we haven't seen is what all of the naysayers said, that there would be massive increases in the price of oil that so many warned about. And that's in large part because of the President's domestic energy policies here at home to revamp our domestic production here, but also the administration has taken many swift actions to mitigate these temporary disruptions. As you know, we've released oil through our SPR, the Jones Act waiver, which has been incredibly effective, fuel environmental waivers. We also, the President signed the Defense Production Act to restart California oil production. So all of these very swift and mighty actions on behalf of this administration have led to a rather stable oil market, and the President will continue to do all he can to ensure prices come down, stay stable for the American people and the American consumer until the end of this conflict. And ultimately, I think Americans should keep in mind why we're doing this in the first place, to ensure that Iran, a terror state, can never obtain a nuclear weapon. Dasha. Dasha, go ahead. Thank you, Caroline. Nice to see you back. You too. Two questions, one on tonight and one on immigration. It strikes me listening to the conversation in this room about Iran, given the questions that folks on both sides of the aisle have about strategy and endgame, given that the United States has intensified strikes on Iran, typically in a time of conflict, when the President gives an address to the nation, you would expect him to address this conflict. Number one, will he talk about Iran? And why is that not the major topic of his speech? Does he believe that the SAVE Act and the 2020 election, election integrity, are more important right now? Well, no, it's not a matter of importance. It's just a matter of timing. The President will be making a very important announcement with respect to the integrity of our elections. However, it is also very possible at the top of the speech, he will mention the current situation with Iran and also the economy as well. As you all know, President Trump is a man of his own word, and he sometimes is thinking about these things up until he walks out. But we have had conversations about him addressing a range of topics, and that could very well be possible tonight. Again, this is all more reason for all of you to carry the speech live and for the American people to tune in tonight, so they can hear directly from the President and draw their own conclusions. Caroline, sorry, I just wanted to add the immigration question real quick. Three men were killed in ICE encounters in less than a week. As a result, DHS announced that it would end vehicle stops, and then President Trump urged them to change their position. Can you confirm whether vehicle stops are back on, and is the administration doing anything more to prevent these kinds of deaths, maybe accelerating distribution of body cam footage, body cameras which weren't present in this case? So a couple of things. Vehicle stops are continuing. Verbal guidance has been given to all field offices across the country by the Department of Homeland Security. The President and the Secretary of Homeland Security are on the same page, that vehicle stops are a necessary tool that ICE agents need in order to continue their deportation campaign of the worst of the worst illegal alien criminals from our country. With respect to body cameras, I know there's been some questions about that in recent days. Over half of all ICE field offices now do have body cameras, and the remainder of the field offices are expected within 60 days. It's been a slower rollout than we would have hoped, but that's because of the Democrats' decision to shut down DHS for several weeks. So we expect to fully execute on the promise of body cams to all field offices across the country very soon. Karen. On the parasite outbreak related to produce, can you give an update on the administration's response to this? Are there federal officials on the ground in the hardest-hit states right now doing any testing of production facilities or farms to try to figure out where this outbreak has started? Well, what I can tell you, having been back at the White House for just a couple of short weeks, I've been in meetings on this very topic, and I can tell you the White House is closely monitoring the situation, has a handle on the situation. We're committed to providing the CDC and the FDA the resources that they need, and we urge all Americans to follow CDC guidance on properly washing and cooking raw ingredients to prevent this foodborne illness. As you know, there has been an unusually high number of cases. There are typically thousands of cases of this outbreak every year, but there has been an unusually higher number, and that's why we're working with the FDA and other partners at the federal, state, and local level to increase detection methods, provide the guidance, and then also, most importantly, trace the outbreak back to its original source, which we are currently in the process of doing. Karen, with the lack of permanent leadership at the CDC and FDA and any funding cuts, has that slowed the response to figure out where this outbreak has started? No, we've talked to the CDC and FDA specifically about that, and not at all. They have the resources they need to make sure that Americans are fully informed and protected from this illness during this time. Caroline, welcome back. Thanks. Last year, the administration signed a critical minimal mining deal with Kazakhstan for a little-known U.S. company. It was an agreement that President Trump and Howard Lutnick got tentative approval for with Kazakhstan's president in September. Six days before the deal was signed, which was in November, the president's older sons with other partners took a 20 percent investment in a company related to the deal. What did the president know about his son's involvement in this arrangement, and when did he find out about it? From my understanding, Maggie, nothing. I've spoken to the president and his family about this. They would absolutely never do anything that would put the president in a place of a conflict of interest. And we have timelines to give you and to provide you, which we did to the news media at the time when this story broke, to prove that very point that I just made. Caroline. Just one second. So the president did not learn about it until it was in the media? That was when he found out? That's my understanding of the matter, yes. Caroline. Go ahead. Thank you very much. Carrie, I'll go to you after. Thank you. Sure. Thank you. Go ahead. Me? Okay. Well, for me, thank you very much. Starting in the back. You are very, very welcome back. Okay. Thank you. Yesterday, Iran launched a drone attack against U.S. facilities in Erbil, threatening American personnel and the Kurdistan region. One of the American closest partners in the Middle East. What is your message to those responsible, and are you staying with your loyal ally in the Middle East and at least helping them to defend itself? Who launched the attack? You're saying- Iran. Kurdistan region. Yes, of course. Well, I think I've addressed that previously in saying that Iran has unfortunately shown to violate the word that they struck with the President of the United States. They're paying consequences for that and the strikes that the President has authorized in the recent days. Thank you, Caroline. You were with the President in Ankara for the NATO summit, and there, Ukraine was one of the- I was not, actually. Oh, you were not. Okay. Yeah. But the issue of Ukraine was one of the most important topics there, and the situation is escalating between the two sides in these days, but there are still efforts. Can you give us more information about where we are and how the local powers, power breakers, including Turkey, are involving in order to solve the problem? Sure. I'll check with the National Security Council and get back to you on that with more specific guidance. What I can tell you is I know the President greatly enjoyed his visit to Turkey and not just his participation in the NATO summit, where he applauded the United States for getting our NATO allies to step up and pay their fair share for our defense, but also he greatly enjoyed his time with President Erdogan in Turkey and appreciates the bilateral relationship between our two countries. Caroline. Caroline, welcome back. Thanks. Contrary to what the mainstream media is reporting, Americans that I speak to care deeply about election integrity. This is true. Why do you think the mainstream media is so fearful of tonight's speech and anything to do with election interference, and why are they attempting to discredit President Trump's speech before they even heard it? And lastly, what's your message to AOC who is asking for President Trump ... the mainstream media to actually censor the sitting President's speech tonight? Yeah. I think that the mainstream media should air the President's speech and allow the American people to draw their own conclusions from it. Again, I think it's important that the American public hears directly from the President of the United States on a topic that, to your point, is very near and dear to the hearts of many Americans across the country, the integrity of our elections. This should be a non-partisan, non-controversial issue, and I think you'll hear the President talk about that tonight. So we'll see you then. Thank you.