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Trump White House Holds First Press Briefing. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired January 28, 2025 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:01:04]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We're following breaking news into CNN this hour.

Any minute now, the White House will hold its first official press briefing of President Donald Trump's second term. At the helm will be Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. She will likely face a barrage of questions as the president works to dramatically reshape the federal government.

Since his return to office, Trump has issued an avalanche of executive orders and made sweeping changes with far-reaching impacts, the latest, freezing federal grants and loans, a move that puts into question critical programs and resources that millions of Americans rely on.

We will get to that in just a moment.

But, first, let's get you straight to the White House Press Briefing Room with CNN anchor and chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins.

Kaitlan, what can we expect from this press briefing today?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Boris, that's the question, and that remains to be seen.

Obviously, White House briefings were a huge point of interest in the first Trump administration. And I can tell you, it seems to be the way today. This is a very packed Briefing Room. It is essentially standing room only around the seats that you are seeing here.

And that is because we are expecting the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, to come out at any moment and take questions from reporters. And, of course, there are many questions to ask about the slew of activities that we have seen from President Trump since he took office just over a week ago, including that freeze on federal funding that went out to agencies last night.

When you look through the memo that went out, it affects almost every single government agency, ranging from Agriculture to the Pentagon. And there are a lot of questions, not just from lawmakers on Capitol Hill about this, but also people across the United States, raising questions about what this means for them. And we saw -- have seen all the executive actions that Trump has been

taking in his first few days in office. I should note we just got the two-minute warning, which means that we do expect to see Karoline Leavitt come out here.

I will note, she's actually the youngest White House press secretary in White House history. She formerly served as Trump's spokesperson for his campaign, so she will not be a stranger to any of his supporters. She ran unsuccessfully for a Congress seat in New Hampshire.

And now, of course, she will be taking the podium at a time when there are a lot of questions about all of the activity that we have seen out of the West Wing just over a week of Trump's second term, Boris.

SANCHEZ: And, of course, we will get back to you, Kaitlan, once the action there gets under way.

For now, let's bring in CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter.

Brian, what will you be watching for during today's briefing?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: During his first term in office, Donald Trump did not want a free and fair press. He wanted a subservient press that would promote his agenda and stop with the pesky questions.

During his first term, he stopped with briefings altogether, discouraging his aides from taking questions. But we also know that Donald Trump loves attention. And, right now, he's getting so much attention through his own Q&As with the press and his own announcements every single day.

The fact that, today, he's letting his press secretary come out and hold her first briefing, that's a big moment. She's going to establish how she wants to handle this Briefing Room, how she wants to take questions, and from whom.

I'm really curious to see if she goes beyond the major networks, beyond the AP and the big newspapers and starts to call on some right- wing outlets that want to make a name for themselves in this Trump era. So that will be a kind of a tension point here. How many questions are being asked by traditional media outlets, how many by new media outlets?

And, most importantly, is she sharing substantive, worthwhile answers? Or is she mostly using this Briefing Room as a performance space in order to show that she's being kind of tough and aggressive on behalf of Trump?

Obviously, the journalists have a lot of questions for the Trump administration. There are so many executive actions and other things happening right now, so many questions. Will we actually get substantive answers, or will this be more of a theater, more of a performance? That's what I'm watching to find out.

SANCHEZ: Yes, we will be finding out in just moments.

And, Brian, I do wonder. we all recall the first press briefing held by Donald Trump's first press secretary, Sean Spicer. It immediately was contentious between Spicer and the press when he tried to repeatedly assert that Donald Trump had the largest inauguration crowd in person and online and viewing ever, a stat that was immediately fact-checked and refuted.

[13:05:15]

I do wonder, Brian, if you think that that is likely to continue, that adversarial relationship between Karoline Leavitt and the press, and how the press could handle fact-checking in the immediate when it comes to an administration that historically, a president that historically has been averse to facts.

STELTER: Right, there's an element of a war on truth that is once again under way. Arguably, it never really ended, the Biden administration not perfect on that front either.

But when it comes to the incoming Trump administration, erasing the information about January 6 prosecutions from the Department of Justice Web site is one of many examples of this war under way trying to erase aspects of the past that Donald Trump doesn't want remembered.

Will we see that kind of behavior from the press secretary? That's another big question going forward here. But she also has an opportunity to advance the president's agenda. For all those questions about how hostile it may be, how adversarial, there are also a lot of wins that Trump has put on the board in the past week that his voters have been thrilled to see.

I suspect we're going to hear a lot from her about those positive messages, and then we will see about what the questions and answers are like.

SANCHEZ: In her public appearances defending the president both on the campaign trail -- actually, there is Karoline Leavitt now heading to the podium.

Let's listen into this first press briefing of Trump's second term.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's an honor to be here with all of you. A lot of familiar faces in the room, a lot of new faces.

And President Trump is back, and the golden age of America has most definitely begun. The Senate has already confirmed five of President Trump's exceptional Cabinet nominees, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

It is imperative that the Senate continues to confirm the remainder of the president's well-qualified nominees as quickly as possible. As you have seen during the past week, President Trump is hard at work

fulfilling the promises that he made to the American people on the campaign trail. Since taking the oath of office, President Trump has taken more than 300 executive actions, secured nearly $1 trillion in U.S. investments, deported illegal alien rapists, gang members, and suspected terrorists from our homeland, and restored common sense to the federal government.

I want to take a moment to go through some of these extraordinary actions. On day one, President Trump declared a national emergency at our southern border to end the four-year-long invasion of illegal aliens under the previous administration.

Additionally, President Trump signed an executive order to end catch- and-release and finish construction of his effective border wall. By using every lever of his federal power, President Trump has sent a loud and clear message to the entire world.

America will no longer tolerate illegal immigration, and this president expects that every nation on this planet will cooperate with the repatriation of their citizens.

As proven by this weekend, when President Trump swiftly directed his team to issue harsh and effective sanctions and tariffs on the Colombian government, upon hearing they were denied a U.S. military aircraft full of their own citizens who were deported by this administration, within hours, the Colombian government agreed to all of President Trump's demands, proving America is once again respected on the world stage.

So, to foreign nationals who are thinking about trying to illegally enter the United States, think again. Under this president, you will be detained and you will be deported. Every day, Americans are safer because of the violent criminals that President Trump's administration is removing from our communities.

On January 23, ICE New York arrested a Turkish national for entry without inspection who is a known or suspected terrorist. On January 23, ICE San Francisco arrested a citizen of Mexico unlawfully present in the United States who has been convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child aged 14 years or younger.

ICE St. Paul has arrested a citizen of Honduras who was convicted of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor. ICE Buffalo arrested a citizen of Ecuador who has been convicted of rape. ICE Boston arrested a citizen of the Dominican Republic who has a criminal conviction for second-degree murder. This criminal was convicted of murder for beating his pregnant wife to death in front of her 5-year- old son.

[13:10:06]

And ICE St. Paul also arrested a citizen of Mexico who was convicted of possessing pornographic material of a minor on a work computer. These are the heinous individuals that this administration is removing from American communities every single day. And to the brave state and local law enforcement officers, CBP and ICE

agents who are helping the facilitation of this deportation operation, President Trump has your back, and he is grateful for your hard work.

On the economic front, President Trump took immediate action to lower costs for families who are suffering from four long years of the Biden administration's destructive and inflationary policies. President Trump ordered the heads of all executive departments and agencies to help deliver emergency price relief to the American people, untangle our economy from Biden's regulatory constraints, and end the reckless war on American energy.

President Trump also signed sweeping executive orders to end the weaponization of government and restore common sense to the federal bureaucracy. He directed all federal agencies to terminate illegal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs to help return America to a merit-based society.

President Trump also signed an executive order declaring it is now the policy of the federal government that there are only two sexes, male and female. Sanity has been restored.

Before I take your questions, I would like to point out to all of you once again have access to the most transparent and accessible president in American history. There has never been a president who communicates with the American people and the American press corps as openly and authentically as the 45th and now 47th president of the United States.

This past week, President Trump has held multiple news conferences, gaggled on Air Force One multiple times, and sat down for a two-part interview on FOX News, which aired last week. As Politico summed it up best, Trump is everywhere again.

And that's because President Trump has a great story to tell about the legendary American revival that is well under way. And in keeping with this revolutionary media approach that President Trump deployed during the campaign, the Trump White House will speak to all media outlets and personalities, not just the legacy media who are seated in this room, because, according to recent polling from Gallup, Americans' trust in mass media has fallen to a record low.

Millions of Americans, especially young people, have turned from traditional television outlets and newspapers to consume their news from podcasts, blogs, social media, and other independent outlets. It's essential to our team that we share President Trump's message everywhere and adapt this White House to the new media landscape in 2025.

To do this, I am excited to announce the following changes will be made to this historic James S. Brady Briefing Room, where Mr. Brady's legacy will endure. This White House believes strongly in the First Amendment, so it's why our team will work diligently to restore the press passes of the 440 journalists whose passes were wrongly revoked by the previous administration. We're also opening up this Briefing Room to new media voices who

produce news-related content and whose outlet is not already represented by one of the seats in this room. We welcome independent journalists, podcasters, social media influencers, and content creators to apply for credentials to cover this White House.

And you can apply now on our new Web site, WhiteHouse.gov/newmedia.

Starting today, this seat in the front of the room, which is usually occupied by the press secretary's staff, will be called the new media seat. My team will review the applications and give credentials to new media applicants who meet our criteria and pass United States Secret Service requirements to enter the White House complex.

So, in light of these announcements, our first questions for today's briefing will go to these new media members, whose outlets, despite being some of the most viewed news Web sites in the country, have not been given seats in this room.

And before I turn to questions, I do have news directly from the president of the United States that was just shared with me in the Oval Office from President Trump directly, an update on the New Jersey drones.

After research and study, the drones that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the FAA for research and various other reasons. Many of these drones were also hobbyists, recreational, and private individuals that enjoy flying drones. And, meantime, in time, it got worse due to curiosity. This was not the enemy, a statement from the president of the United States to start this briefing with some news.

[13:15:14]

And with that, I will turn it over to questions.

And we will begin with our new media members, Mike Allen from Axios, Matt Boyle from Breitbart.

Mike, why don't you go ahead?

QUESTION: Thank you very much.

Karoline, does the president see anything fishy about DeepSeek, either its origins or its costs? And could China's ability to make these models quicker, cheaper affect our thinking about expanding generation data centers to manufacture?

LEAVITT: Sure.

The president was asked about DeepSeek last night on Air Force One when he gaggled for, I think, the third or fourth time throughout the weekend with members of the traveling press corps. The president said that he believes that this is a wake-up call to the American A.I. industry. The last administration sat on their hands and allowed China to

rapidly develop this A.I. program. And so President Trump believes in restoring American A.I. dominance. And that's why he took very strong executive action this past week to sign executive orders to roll back some of the onerous regulations on the A.I. industry.

And President Trump has also proudly appointed the first A.I. and crypto czar at this White House, David Sacks, whom I spoke with yesterday, very knowledgeable on this subject. And his team is here working every single day to ensure American A.I. dominance.

As for the national security implications, I spoke with NSC this morning. They are looking into what those may be. And when I have an update, I will share it with you, Mike.

QUESTION: Karoline, you say restore U.S. dominance. Is there a fear that the U.S. either is falling or has fallen behind? And how would the president make sure U.S. stays ahead?

LEAVITT: No, the president is confident that we will restore American dominance in A.I.

Matt.

QUESTION: So, Karoline, first of all, thank you to you and President Trump for actually giving voices to new media outlets that represent millions and millions of Americans.

The thing I would add, I have got a two-part question for you. The first is just, can you expand upon what steps the White House is going to take to bring more voices, not less, which is what our founder, Andrew Breitbart, believed in, into this room, where they rightly belong?

LEAVITT: Yes, absolutely.

And as I said in my opening statement, Matt, it is a priority of this White House to honor the First Amendment. And it is a fact that Americans are consuming their news media from various different platforms, especially young people. And as the youngest press secretary in history, thanks to President Trump, I take great pride in opening up this room to new media voices to share the president's message with as many Americans as possible.

In doing so, number one, we will ensure that outlets like yours, Axios and Breitbart, which are widely respected and viewed outlets, have an actual seat in this room every day. We also, again, encourage anybody in this country, whether you are a TikTok content creator, a blogger, a podcaster, if you are producing legitimate news content, no matter the medium, you will be allowed to apply for press credentials to this White House.

And, as I said earlier, our new media Web site is WhiteHouse.gov/newmedia. And so we encourage people to apply. Again, as long as you are creating news-related content of the day and you're a legitimate independent journalist, you're welcome to cover this White House.

QUESTION: And, secondly, Karoline, you said -- you laid out several of the actions that President Trump has taken. Obviously it's a stark contrast to the previous administration, a breakneck speed from President Trump.

Can we expect that pace to continue as the first 100 days moves along here and beyond that?

LEAVITT: Absolutely. There is no doubt President Trump has always been the hardest-working man in politics. I think that's been proven over the past week. This president has again signed more than 300 executive orders.

He's taken historic action. I gaggled aboard Air Force One to mark the first 100 days of this administration 4:00 p.m. last Friday, or first 100 hours, rather. And this president did more in the first 100 hours than the previous president did in the first 100 days.

So, President Trump, I think you can all expect for him to continue to work at this breakneck speed, so I hope you're all ready to work very hard. I know that we are.

Zeke Miller.

QUESTION: Thanks, Karoline.

A question that we have asked your predecessors of both parties in this job, when you're up here in this Briefing Room speaking to the American public, do you view yourself and your role as speaking, advocating on behalf of the president, or providing the unvarnished truth, that is, not to lie, not to obfuscate to the American people?

LEAVITT: I commit to telling the truth from this podium every single day. I commit to speaking on behalf of the president of the United States. That is my job.

And I will say it's very easy to speak truth from this podium when you have a president who is implementing policies that are wildly popular with the American people, and that's exactly what this administration is doing. It's correcting the lies and the wrongs of the past four years, many of the lies that have been told to your faces in this very Briefing Room.

[13:20:05]

I will not do that. But since you brought up truth, Zeke, I would like to point out, while I vow to provide the truth from this podium, we ask that all of you in this room hold yourselves to that same standard. We know for a fact there have been lies that have been pushed by many legacy media outlets in this country about this president, about his family.

And we will not accept that. We will call you out when we feel that your reporting is wrong or there is misinformation about this White House. So, yes, I will hold myself to the truth and I expect everyone in this room to do the same.

QUESTION: And, Karoline, just on a substantive question, yesterday, White House Office of Management and Budget directed an across-the- board freeze (OFF-MIKE) individual assistance, we understand, to federal grants.

LEAVITT: Correct.

QUESTION: It's caused a lot of confusion around the country, Head Start providers among -- providers services to homeless veterans, Medicaid provider, states saying they're having trouble accessing the portal.

Can you help us clear up some of the confusion...

LEAVITT: Yes.

QUESTION: ... give some certainty to folks? And, also, is that uncertainty -- how does that uncertainty service the president's voters?

LEAVITT: Well, I think there's only uncertainty in this room amongst the media. There's no uncertainty in this building.

So let me provide the certainty and the clarity that all of you need. This is not a blanket pause on federal assistance in grant programs from the Trump administration. Individual assistance, that includes -- I'm not naming everything that's included, but just to give you a few examples, Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits, assistance that is going directly to individuals will not be impacted by this pause.

And I want to make that very clear to any Americans who are watching at home who may be a little bit confused about some of the media reporting. This administration, if you are receiving individual assistance from the federal government, you will still continue to receive that.

However, it is the responsibility of this president and this administration to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. That is something that President Trump campaigned on. That's why he has launched DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, who is working alongside OMB.

And that's why OMB sent out this memo last night, because the president signed an executive order directing OMB to do just this. And the reason for this is to ensure that every penny that is going out the door is not conflicting with the executive orders and actions that this president has taken.

So what does this pause mean? It means no more funding for illegal DEI programs. It means no more funding for the green new scam that has cost American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. It means no more funding for transgenderism and wokeness across our federal bureaucracy and agencies, no more funding for Green New Deal social engineering policies. Again, people who are receiving individual assistance, you will

continue to receive that. And President Trump is looking out for you by issuing this pause, because he is being good steward of your taxpayer dollars.

QUESTION: Thanks, Karoline.

LEAVITT: Sure.

QUESTION: How long is this pause going to last? And how is the Trump administration recommending that organizations that rely on federal funding make payroll, pay their rent in the meantime?

LEAVITT: It is a temporary pause, and the Office of Management and Budget is reviewing the federal funding that has been going out the door, again, not for individual assistance, but for all of these other programs that I mentioned.

I also spoke with the incoming director of OMB this morning and he told me to tell all of you that the line to his office is open for other federal government agencies across the board. And if they feel that programs are necessary and in line with the president's agenda, then the Office of Management and Budget will review those policies.

I think this is a very responsible measure. Again, the past four years, we have seen the Biden administration spend money like drunken sailors. It's a big reason we have had an inflation crisis in this country. And it's incumbent upon this administration to make sure, again, that every penny is being accounted for honestly.

QUESTION: Why impose this pause with so little notice? Why not give organizations more time to plan for the fact that they are about to lose in some cases really crucial federal funding, at least for a period of time?

LEAVITT: There was notice. It was the executive order that the president signed. There's also a freeze on hiring, as you know, a regulatory freeze, and there's also a freeze on foreign aid.

And this is, again, incredibly important to ensure that this administration is taking into consideration how hard the American people are working, and their tax dollars actually matter to this administration. Just during this pause, DOGE and OMB have actually found that there was $37 million that was about to go out the door to the World Health Organization, which is an organization, as you all know, that President Trump with the swipe of his pen in that executive order is -- no longer wants the United States to be a part of.

So that wouldn't be in line with the president's agenda. DOGE and OMB also found that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza. That is a preposterous waste of taxpayer money.

[13:25:08]

So that's what this pause is focused on, being good stewards of tax dollars.

QUESTION: And so this doesn't affect Meals on Wheels or Head Start or disaster aid?

LEAVITT: Again, it does not affect individual assistance that's going to Americans.

QUESTION: To follow up on Nancy, do you think there will be a list of who is affected and how much money is affected? How will these contractors and organizations know if they are actually having their funding frozen?

And then, secondly, if you're willing, can you just clarify, is the end goal of this to essentially challenge Congress or to prove that the president can withhold federal funding? Is -- in other words, is this an attempt to pick a fight to prove that he can do this?

LEAVITT: No, absolutely not.

As it says right here in the memo, which I have and I'd encourage all of you to read it, it says the American people elected President Trump to be the president of the United States and gave him a mandate to increase the impact of every federal dollar. This memo requires federal agencies to identify and review all federal financial assistance programs and supporting activities consistent with the president's policies and requirements.

The American people gave President Trump an overwhelming mandate on November 5, and he's just trying to ensure that the tax money going out the door in this very bankrupt city actually aligns with the will and the priorities of the American people.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Yes, welcome. You look great. You're doing a great job. Thank you.

We talked about transparency, and some of us in this room know how just transparent President Trump has been the last five or six years. I think you will do the same.

My question is, do you think this latest incident with the president of Colombia is indicative of the global powerful respect they have for President Trump moving forward, not only to engage in economic diplomacy with these countries, but also world peace?

LEAVITT: Absolutely.

I will echo the answer that the president gave on Air Force One last night when he was asked a very similar question by one of your colleagues in the media. This signifies peace through strength is back. And this president will not tolerate illegal immigration into America's interior.

And he expects every nation on this planet, again, to cooperate with the repatriation of their citizens who illegally entered into our country and broke America's laws. Won't be tolerated. And, as you saw, the Colombian government quickly folded and agreed to all of President Trump's demands. Flights are under way once again.

QUESTION: I have two questions on deportations, if I may.

President Trump had said on the campaign trail that he would deport pro-Hamas students who are here on visas. And on his first day in office, he signed an executive order that said -- quote -- "The U.S. must ensure that admitted aliens and aliens otherwise already present in the U.S. do not bear hostile attitudes towards the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles."

So should we take this executive order as Trump saying he would be open to deporting those students who are here on visas, but hold pro- Hamas sympathies?

LEAVITT: The president is open to deporting individuals who have broken our nation's immigration laws. So if they are here illegally, then certainly he is open to deporting them.

And that's what this administration is hard at work at doing. We receive data from DHS and from ICE every single day. From what we hear on the ground, ICE agents are feeling incredibly empowered right now because they actually have a leader in this building who is supporting them in doing their jobs that they were hired to do, which is to detain, arrest, and deport illegal criminals who have invaded our nation's borders over the past four years.

That's what the president is committed to seeing.

Peter.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Just following up on the question of immigration first, President Trump during the course of the campaign in 2024 said the following about illegal immigration.

He said: "They're going back home where they belong. And we start with the criminals. There are many, many criminals."

NBC News has learned that ICE arrested 1,179 undocumented immigrants on Sunday, but nearly half of them, 566 of the migrants, appear to have no prior criminal record besides entering the country illegally. Is the president still focused exclusively, which is a civil crime, not a -- it's not criminal.

LEAVITT: It's a federal crime.

QUESTION: So I'm asking, though. He said he was going to focus on those violent offenders first. So is violent offenders no longer the predicate for these people to be deported?

LEAVITT: The president has said countless times on the campaign trail -- I have been with him at the rallies -- I know you have been there covering them too, Peter -- that he is focused on launching the largest mass deportation operation in American history of illegal criminals.

And if you are an individual, a foreign national, who illegally enters the United States of America, you are, by definition, a criminal. And so, therefore, you are subject to deportation.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: I apologize for interrupting. So to be clear, it's not -- violent criminals do not receive precedence in terms of the deportations taking place?

LEAVITT: The president has also said -- two things can be true at the same time.

We want to deport illegal criminals, illegal immigrants from this country. But the president has said that, of course, the illegal criminal drug dealers, the rapists, the murderers, the individuals who have committed heinous acts on the interior of our country and who have terrorized law-abiding American citizens, absolutely, those should be the priority of ICE.