The woman who told America that Joe Biden was so energetic she sometimes had trouble keeping up with him has some thoughts about honesty in the White House briefing room. Specifically, Jen Psaki would like you to know that Karoline Leavitt is a liar who didn’t serve the American people. On her MS NOW program Thursday night, Psaki accused Leavitt of failing to engage the press “in good faith,” reshaping the briefing room into “her own personal safe space,” and telling “the version of the truth according to the serial liar who sits in the Oval Office.”
WATCH:
🚨 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
Oh, brother.
This is the same Jen Psaki who stood at that same podium for a year and a half, repeatedly told reporters she’d “circle back” when she didn’t want to answer things, and maintained through her entire tenure and beyond that Joe Biden was mentally sharp and physically vigorous — assertions that the Biden tapes now being released have confirmed were exactly as dishonest as everyone suspected at the time.
The audacity is remarkable. The credentials to make this argument are nonexistent.
What makes it worse for Psaki is that independent journalists who actually attended Leavitt’s briefings immediately served up the reality check she didn’t want. Wid Lyman, an independent journalist who regularly covered the White House under Leavitt, posted that “if you talk to anyone who has worked in media at the White House” the briefing room has undoubtedly changed — and not in the direction Psaki suggested. Two recent comments he cited: “There is way, way more going on during this administration compared to the last” and “The entire press team is first-class.”
Lyman also noted that the 49 permanent seats in the James S.
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
Brady Press Briefing Room are always allocated to legacy and major news organizations — but that standing-room-only crowds of additional journalists regularly attended Leavitt’s briefings. “I routinely hear how much more crowded the room is compared to other times,” he wrote.
More access. More reporters. First-class team. That’s the on-the-record assessment from journalists who were actually there — as opposed to a cable news host whose previous White House communication strategy included stonewalling questions about whether the president of the United States had lost his mind.
The White House’s response to Psaki was efficient: “Jen ‘Circle Back’ Psaki couldn’t hold a candle to Karoline Leavitt.”
Leavitt is leaving the briefing room having expanded press access, earned praise from journalists across the political spectrum, returned from maternity leave, and done all of it at 28 years old. Psaki left having helped conceal a sitting president’s cognitive decline from the American public for over a year.
If Psaki wants to have the conversation about who disgraced the podium, by all means. The transcript is already written.
