By; Erik De La Garza
Donald Trump’s next White House press secretary praised the incoming president as being a great advocate for a free and fair press — just before trashing the media as “hostile and fake.”
The curious juxtaposition came Tuesday during Karoline Leavitt’s first interview since being named as Trump's next White House press secretary – the youngest person to hold the role. In her Fox News appearance, Leavitt said her boss — who repeatedly used the phrase "enemy from within" to describe media outlets that he viewed as unfavorable to him — praised his media-handling skills and his accessibility to the press.
“There is no greater advocate for free and fair press than Donald Trump,” Leavitt told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “During his first term as a president, he was the most transparent president in American history, that continued on the campaign trail despite the fact that he has exposed the media for being incredibly hostile and fake. They have pushed lies and hoaxes about him for eight years. They consistently take his words out of context.”
Leavitt said a key takeaway from this year’s election was that "the American people are no longer buying the lies from the legacy media."
The comments came after Hannity asked Leavitt if she would "push the old legacy media that nobody is really listening to anyway" to the back of the White House briefing room and let "new media" in the front.
Leavitt, who is currently serving as the Trump-Vance transition spokesperson, wouldn’t commit either way, instead saying she would defer to Trump on how to run his media briefings.
"We will certainly look at options on how to respect the tradition of the White House while also ensuring that the press briefing room reflects the media habits of the American people today," she said.
"Nobody speaks to the press about Donald Trump better than Donald Trump so it’s a tough position you’re being put in," Hannity later added.
"That’s right," Leavitt said.
