The Trump administration has been moving full steam ahead since President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance took their respect oaths of office last Monday.
There have been a flurry of executive orders and movement on many of the key issues Trump ran on, and one of the people at the White House most responsible for getting the message out on these actions is Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
The 27 year old made a name for herself on the campaign trail with her no nonsense style taking on adversarial media, and she appears to be following that same blueprint in the White House Briefing Room. On Friday’s show, Megyn and Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk, host of The Charlie Kirk Show, discussed Leavitt’s first few days on the job.
The First Briefing
When Trump named Leavitt White House press secretary, the New Hampshire native became the youngest person to ever hold the job. She was behind the lectern for the first time on Tuesday for her inaugural press briefing and made headlines for announcing press passes will be offered to ‘new media’ outlets and for going toe-to-toe with the corporate media. The New York Times called her debut “steely and unflinching.”
One of the moments Megyn found particularly impressive from Tuesday’s briefing was when Leavitt was asked about the thousands of illegal immigrants who have been deported since Trump took office.
REPORTER: Of the 3,500 arrests ICE has made so far since President Trump came back into office, can you just tell us the numbers? How many have a criminal record versus those who are just in the country illegally?
LEAVITT: All of them, because they illegally broke our nation’s laws, and, therefore, they are criminals, as far as this administration goes. I know the last administration didn’t see it that way, so it’s a big culture shift in our nation to view someone who breaks our immigration laws as a criminal. But that’s exactly what they are.
REPORTER: They all have a criminal record?
LEAVITT: If they broke our nation’s laws, yes, they are a criminal.
Kirk applauded the way Leavitt approached her answer. “That answer right there is spot on… Definitionally, you being in the United States illegally is a crime,” he said. “By the way, if you don’t like that, then go to Congress and change the law. You don’t get to choose which laws you like and don’t like.”
Megyn said Leavitt has been able to strike the right tone thus far. “She is doing a great job… She is not being unnecessarily combative… [but] she is out there being just as combative as the media deserves,” she explained. “They come in there with hatred for her, Trump, his supporters, and his agenda, and she is responding appropriately to a group of people who… are working actively to undermine him [Trump] masquerading as objective journalists.”
The Double Standard
Leavitt, who gave birth to her first child over the summer, began working at the White House during Trump’s first term – first as an intern and then as a full-time writer and assistant press secretary under Kayleigh McEnany.
In 2022, she ran for Congress in New Hampshire and won the GOP primary before losing to the Democratic incumbent. She went on to work as a spokesperson on the 2024 Trump campaign before being named press secretary.
Kirk, whose organization endorsed Leavitt during her congressional run, noted that if she had a ‘D’ instead of a ‘R’ attached to her name, she would be a media darling. “Looking at someone who is 27 be press secretary, I think, is phenomenal, and it just goes to show how awful the media is. They have not given her even a little iota of credit,” he noted. “She has had a great career ascension… I thought she was adequately prepared, I thought she was incredibly sharp, and I thought her answers were perfect.”
Megyn agreed the future is bright. “When I see her, I can tell she is young. But I see somebody who is going to be a massive threat as this job goes forward,” she said. “She is this good her first week on the job. They are going to have their hands full when she has been doing it for two years.”
Despite the punishing nature of the role, Megyn hopes to see Leavitt in it for some time. “I hope it lasts because she does have a young baby, and it is a very demanding job,” she concluded. “Hats off to her. Wishing her nothing but success and goodness in this role.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Kirk by tuning in to episode 997 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.