A CBS News reporter set off a heated exchange during a Wednesday briefing when he challenged White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to prove President Donald Trump’s claims that he has been called “racist.”
CBS Senior White House Correspondent Ed O’Keefe referenced the late Reverend Jesse Jackson — whose passing was announced on Tuesday — and said, “Yesterday in his statement about Jesse Jackson the President said ‘Despite the fact that I am falsely and consistently called a racist by the scoundrels and lunatics on the radical left, democrats all, it was always my pleasure to help Jesse along the way’ where or when does the President believe he’s been falsely called racist?”
Leavitt did not attempt to conceal her shock: “You’re kidding right?”
WATCH:
Seriously dude? Lefty reporter gets laughed at after he asks if Karoline Leavitt has any examples of the media calling President Trump racist.
Leavitt: “You’re kidding, right?” pic.twitter.com/2unmwVXQVY
— Media Research Center (@theMRC) February 18, 2026
“You’re kidding right? I will pull you a plethora of examples,” the press secretary promised. “I will get my team in that room to start going through the internet of radical Democrats throughout the years, Ed, who have accused this President falsely of being a racist. And I’m sure there’s many people in this room and on network television across the country who have accused him of the same. In fact, I know that because I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
Leavitt went on to say that the President has been looking forward to having an event later that same afternoon to celebrate Black History Month as well as to “advancing opportunity and prosperity for all Americans,” such as the Trump Accounts, “which all Americans can access, regardless of race.”
Fifteen minutes later, the White House Rapid Response X account pulled a video of Don Lemon anchoring a CNN broadcast. He opened his monologue with, “This is CNN Tonight. I’m Don Lemon. The President of the United States is racist. A lot of us already knew that.”
The White House has continued to update the platform with additional examples.
