White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has doubled down on her “childish” response to a question from the Huffington Post.
Reporter S.V. Dáte had asked Leavitt for a response on Budapest being chosen as a meeting point between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
The pair will meet in the Hungarian capital to discuss the war in Ukraine in the coming weeks.
Highlights
- White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to a HuffPost reporter's question with a 'your mom' text exchange.
- Leavitt dismissed the reporter S.V. Dáte as a left-wing hack biased against President Trump.
- The question involved Budapest’s significance as the meeting site for Trump and Putin amid the Ukraine conflict.
- Budapest is historically important due to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum where Ukraine gave up nuclear arms for security guarantees.
Karoline Leavitt doubled down on her ‘your mom’ response
Image credits: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Budapest is of historical significance to Ukraine, as it was where the country surrendered its nuclear arsenal inherited from the Soviet Union after it was dissolved in exchange for security assurances from major world powers in 1994.
The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances was signed by Ukraine, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. and it prohibited signatories from threatening or using military force or economic coercion against Ukraine.
Russia violated the Budapest Memorandum in 2014 when it annexed Crimea and again in 2022 when it invaded Ukraine.
Last week, when the meeting location was announced, Dáte texted Leavitt asking if Trump was aware of the significance of Budapest and if he thought Ukraine might object.
Image credits: Contributor/Getty Images
“Is the president aware of the significance of Budapest? In 1994, Russia promised, in Budapest, not to invade Ukraine if it gave up the nuclear weapons it inherited when the Soviet Union dissolved,” Dáte wrote.
“Does he not see why Ukraine might object to that site? Who suggested Budapest? Thanks.”
In response, Leavitt wrote, “Your mom did.”
“Is this funny to you?” Dáte wrote back.
“It’s funny to me that you actually consider yourself a journal,” Leavitt replied. “You are a far left hack who nobody takes seriously, including your colleagues in the media, they just don’t tell you that to your face.
Image credits: Huffington Post
“Stop texting me your disingenuous, biased, and bulls**t questions.”
White House communications director Steven Cheung also responded to Dáte, one minute after Leavitt’s text, writing, “Your mom.”
On Monday, after the HuffPost ran a story on Leavitt’s “your mom” response to a foreign policy question, Leavitt shared screenshots of the messages on social media.
Ukraine surrendered its nuclear weapons in Budapest in 1994
“For context, S.V. Dáte of the Huffington Post is not a journalist interested in the facts. He is a left-wing hack who has consistently attacked President Trump for years and constantly bombards my phone with Democrat talking points,” the press secretary wrote.
“Just take a look at @svdate ’s feed, it reads like an anti-Trump personal diary. Here is my full response to his ‘inquiry.’ Activists who masquerade as real reporters do a disservice to the profession.”
Dáte responded in the comments on Leavitt’s X post, writing, “Feel better now? Now can you answer the question? Please and thank you.”
Leavitt has still not answered the question on who chose the meeting point.
Image credits: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
But her response seems to have rubbed off on other White House officials, with Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell using the same line in one of Dáte’s stories published Monday.
The article, on War Secretary Pete Hegseth wearing a red, white, and blue tie during Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s trip to the White House last week, includes the response, “Your mom bought it for him—and it’s a patriotic American tie, moron.”