White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is trending on social media again, and not for very good reasons. Her harsh reply and verbal scuffle with CNN’s chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, from March has resurfaced on the internet. During the argument, Collins wanted clarification on whether President Donald Trump felt betrayed by his national security advisors after the Pentagon’s Signal chat scandal. Leavitt, being the press secretary, was expected to provide a proper answer, but she deflected.
When Collins tried to ask a follow-up question, Leavitt stopped her and wouldn’t let her complete. The heated exchange between the two is considered to be one of Leavitt’s most unprofessional moments as a press secretary.’ However, on camera, it might appear that the press secretary and White House correspondent dislike each other, but that’s not entirely accurate.
Recently, Collins confessed a surprising revelation about her behind-the-scenes relationship with Leavitt during an interview. In an October 2025 podcast, “Trading Secrets” with Jason Tartick, she disclosed that the press secretary can be really shrewd and smart at the same time. She recalled how, during a press pool trip in Saudi Arabia in May, Karoline infuriated the Saudi Royal Guard by asking a question to Trump, after he came back from a meeting.
Collins also noted that the Saudi Prince, who isn’t a big fan of the press, was inadvertently offended by Karoline when she asked Trump a question. “Right after that, the Saudi Royal Guard was like, ‘You cannot come into the next event,” Collins told Tartick. As she tried to reason with them, Leavitt, of all people, came to Collins’ rescue. “To Karoline Leavitt’s credit, she was like, ‘No, Kaitlan’s coming in with the rest of the U.S. press.’ And so I went into the next event,” Collins said.
Social media users were shocked because the Karoline-Kaitlin friendship was not in their 2025 bingo card. In the podcast, she was also asked about their earlier scuffle during the press briefing, to which Kaitlin replied, she has no grudges. “I’ve had relationships and dealt in the press briefing room with a string of press secretaries,” Collins explained. “I think the longer [you do this job], you realize that all these press secretaries are doing their job for their boss. You kind of understand how they’re operating.” Collins added that just because they have an understanding, it doesn’t stop her from asking difficult questions.
WH Press Sec. Karoline Leavitt fires back at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins:
“If outlets in this room push lies, we will hold them accountable.” pic.twitter.com/iJ8nZGlNra
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 12, 2025
Despite the friendship, we see Leavitt and Collins going head-to-head. A recent example of this was the October 2025 press briefing, where Collins evoked Karoline Leavitt’s calmness. She raised a question about President Donald Trump’s plans to deploy the National Guard in Chicago and Portland. She followed it up by asking whether any of the officials of the cities had asked for military help.
Karoline immediately accused Collins of only speaking to Democrats on her show, “The Source.” “It’s on video. You should play it on your show,” Leavitt snapped (via The Daily Beast). This was obviously not Leavitt’s pettiest interaction with Collins, but she seemed to take it quite smoothly. “I think with the press and press secretaries for all politicians, it’s a tense relationship. It’s not meant to be buddy-buddy or cozy,” Collins told “Trading Secrets.”
