White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has doubled down on Donald Trump’s incendiary post that threatened to obliterate a “whole civilization” if Iran didn’t meet his demands.
Amid ongoing calls to invoke the 25th Amendment against Trump over his fitness to remain in office, Leavitt found herself cornered over her boss’s escalating and often shocking rhetoric over the past few days.
The grilling came after Trump put out a post on Tuesday morning threatening to wipe out Iran, a country of 95 million people whose citizens he once claimed he could help save from their tyrannical regime.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” the 79-year-old commander in chief declared.
But asked during her press briefing on Wednesday how the president could claim America “has the moral high ground if he’s threatening to destroy civilizations,” Leavitt clapped back.
“The president absolutely has the moral high ground over the Iranian terrorist regime, and for you to even suggest otherwise is frankly insulting,” she replied.
She also noted that Americans “should take a look at the actions of this president over the course of the past six weeks,” saying he had “essentially taken out the military of a rogue Islamic regime that has chanted ‘Death to America’ for 47 years.”
But the question was not the only one Leavitt received on the matter during Wednesday’s briefing, with another reporter asking her: “What was your understanding of what he meant when he said this civilization is going to be eliminated?”
“I think it was a very, very strong threat from the president of the United States that led the Iranian regime to cave to their knees and ask for a cease fire and agreed to reopening the Strait of Hormuz,” Leavitt replied.
“It was not an empty threat by any means,” she added.
“The Pentagon had a target list that they were ready to hit go on at 8 pm last night, if the Iranian regime had not agreed to open the Strait, which they did. I think that’s something we should all be grateful for.”
However, whether Iran did cave or reopen the Strait is up for debate, with Iran’s state media claiming on Wednesday that it had shut down the critical oil chokepoint in response to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.
Leavitt insisted this was fake news being peddled by Iran.
“Privately, we have seen an uptick of traffic in the strait today,” she said, “and I will reiterate the president’s expectation and demand that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened immediately, quickly, and safely.”
The two-week ceasefire comes as the administration searches for an offramp to a deeply unpopular war that has so far killed 13 U.S. service officers as well as countless Iranians. The standoff in the Strait, where 20 percent of the world’s oil usually flows, has also led to more pain at the pump for consumers.
Connecticut Democrat John Larson filed articles of impeachment against Trump this week over his handling of the conflict, accusing him of abusing power and pushing America toward actions that could amount to war crimes.
And while the move is unlikely to go anywhere, given that Republicans control the House, it was not the only push by Democrats.
Arizona Rep. Yassamin Ansari has announced she plans to file articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, while Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett has sent letters to Vice President J.D. Vance and the Cabinet requesting Trump’s removal under the 25th Amendment.
This is the constitutional mechanism that allows a president to be removed if they’re deemed unfit to serve.
Meanwhile, MAGA world has also sounded the alarm, with figures such Alex Jones, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Candace Owens now urging the 25th Amendment to be invoked.
“25TH AMENDMENT!!! Not a single bomb has dropped on America. We cannot kill an entire civilization,” she wrote on X after Trump’s Tuesday morning tirade.
But speaking on Wednesday, Leavitt told reporters: “I understand the questions about the President’s rhetoric, but what the President cares most about his results, and in fact, his very tough rhetoric and his tough negotiating style is what has led to the results that you are all witnessing today.”
