When it comes to Donald Trump, not even his own press secretary knows what he’ll do next.
White House officials told Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal that Trump, 79, has repeatedly taunted Karoline Leavitt, 28, by claiming he has leaked information to a journalist—without saying what he said or to whom. Instead, he has teased the top communications adviser that she will have to “wait and see” like everyone else.
Since Trump and Israel launched their surprise war on Iran on Feb. 28, the president has been fielding calls on his personal cellphone from an ever-widening circle of journalists, often offering contradictory messages.
White House officials told the Journal that aides have taken turns trying to warn him against taking such calls, which have sown further chaos and confusion across the country.
For example, Trump told CNN the U.S. was “ahead of schedule” in its four-week bombardment of Iran. Two days later, he told Time magazine there was “no time limit.”
He has told Axios there was “practically nothing left to target in Iran,” then threatened to wipe out a “whole civilization” if Iran refused to adhere to his demands in a Truth Social post.
For a time, he complied—but the calls have since resumed in full force. The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
Regardless, Leavitt has remained a staunch defender of Trump and his widely unpopular war in Iran, which has killed 13 U.S. servicemembers and thousands of others.
In February, days before Trump launched strikes on Iran, he held a meeting in the Situation Room with his closest advisers, including Leavitt and White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, the New York Times reported earlier in April.
There, he asked everyone for their views. Cheung told Trump that a war would spark a public relations crisis with its contradictions—including Trump’s claims last summer that Iran’s nuclear program had been “obliterated.”
Leavitt reportedly told the president it was his decision, and that the press team would manage it as best they could.
Since then, the former congressional candidate has weathered criticism over the president’s handling of a war launched without congressional approval. The president has also drawn backlash from parts of his base, including for kicking off Easter Sunday with a profanity-filled Truth Social tirade where he demanded Iranians “open the F—n’ Strait, you crazy b—--ds, or you’ll be living in Hell.” He concluded the post, “Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
The president later told an adviser that he improvised the post so he would be perceived as “unstable and insulting,”—which he hoped would scare Iranians to the negotiating table.
Despite Trump himself attempting to appear erratic, Leavitt told the Journal that her boss remains “a steady leader our country needs.”
“President Trump campaigned proudly on his promise to deny the Iranian regime the ability to develop a nuclear weapon, which is what this noble operation accomplishes,” she said.
Her assurance comes after Trump reportedly threw such a tantrum during a fraught rescue operation in Iran that his aides banished him from the room as they were briefed.
