Well, this is rich.
Upon hearing the news that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt would be stepping away from her role at the end of the month to focus on her young family, former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki used the occasion to trash Leavitt and call her a liar.
Yes, really, the woman whose inane and repeated "circle back" responses during her own tenure behind the White House briefing podium – she was Biden's first press secretary – made her a laughingstock both in and outside of Washington, D.C., now wants to lecture Karoline Leavitt about how a press secretary should behave.
SEE ALSO: Karoline Leavitt Understood the Assignment (VIP)
Psaki apparently has a show on MS NOW and let loose on the Thursday night episode, saying Leavitt didn't engage the media "in good faith" and "reshaped" the White House Briefing Room "into her own personal safe space."
“The relationship between the press and the White House is supposed to be adversarial by design,” Psaki said on MS NOW, formerly MSNBC, where she was hired after her performance on then-President Biden’s behalf from 2021 to 2022. “I mean, the press in the room are supposed to push for more access, for more information. And there are times when it’s absolutely appropriate for the press secretary to push back. But Karoline Leavitt didn’t want to engage in good faith with those reporters and their tough questions.
“And so, instead, she did everything she could to reshape that briefing room into her own personal safe space where she rarely had to answer a tough question, hardly ever. I mean, she only briefed once or twice a week, max.”
🚨 NEW: Jen Psaki just claimed Karoline Leavitt “rarely had to answer a tough question, hardly ever” as press secretary and “didn’t engage in good faith with reporters and tough questions” — ignoring that Psaki often deflected on questions about Joe Biden’s mental acuity during… pic.twitter.com/CQ0RkE5Yir
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) August 14, 2026
Psaki wasn't done there and "accused Leavitt of lying repeatedly in her role and said she only served one man: Trump."
“It’s been about telling the version of the truth according to the serial liar who sits in the Oval Office. Reporters in the room don’t matter. The American people who rely on the reporting from the reporters in the room [don’t] matter, she’s never seen her job as working for the American people as a public servant,” Psaki said, adding she had damaged the job.
As a reminder, Jen Psaki spent years helping sell the fiction that Joe Biden was mentally sharp and physically vigorous, once claiming that the then-78-year-old president was so energetic she sometimes had trouble keeping up with him; even after leaving the White House, she insisted she had never witnessed any diminished capacity.
She's hardly in a position to cast judgment on anyone with that resume.
Wid Lyman, an independent journalist who often attended Leavitt's briefings, served up a brutal fact check on Psaki, revealing that, behind the scenes, the media has appreciated the increased access to the president, describing Leavitt's entire team as "first class."
Jen Psaki recently said the White House press briefing room “has massively changed” under the Trump administration and @karolineleavitt.
— Wid Lyman (@Wid_Lyman) August 14, 2026
If you talk to anyone who has worked in media at the White House this is undoubtedly true.
Two comments I have heard recently:
"There is… pic.twitter.com/8HTTdqX1p1
Jen Psaki recently said the White House press briefing room “has massively changed” under the Trump administration and @karolineleavitt.
If you talk to anyone who has worked in media at the White House this is undoubtedly true.
Two comments I have heard recently:
"There is way, way more going on during this administration compared to the last."
"The entire press team is first-class."
Karoline Leavitt not only fostered a more open atmosphere for multiple types of media in the briefing room, but she also created an environment where her staff was professional and courteous.
The 49 permanent seats in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room are allocated to legacy and major news organizations, but standing room only crowds of unseated journalists regularly attend the briefings.
I routinely hear how much more crowded the room is compared to other times.
Thank you for the opportunity to give our readers and followers a voice.
God bless in all things 🙏
White House spokesman Davis Ingle had a very simple response to Psaki's attack on Leavitt: “Jen ‘Circle Back’ Psaki couldn’t hold a candle to Karoline Leavitt.”
Leavitt leaves the White House having expanded press access and earned praise even from journalists outside the conservative media bubble. Psaki left after helping hide Joe Biden’s obvious decline from the American people. If she really wants to have a conversation about who disgraced the podium, by all means, let’s have it.
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