‘It Is NOT Working’: Karoline Leavitt Upends Press Corps Efforts To ‘Sow Distrust’ In Trump Admin

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt unloaded on CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins during Wednesday’s White House briefing, accusing her of fomenting “chaos and distrust” among President Donald Trump’s cabinet and assuring her that her efforts would be unsuccessful.

Leavitt, flanked by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, detailed some of the findings revealed by a congressional report that had been released just hours earlier — a report that outlined the troubling actions taken by members of former President Obama’s administration and the intelligence community.

WATCH:

.@PressSec shuts down CNN: “The only people who are suggesting that @DNIGabbard would release evidence to try to boost her standing with @POTUS are the people in this room, who constantly try to sow distrust and chaos amongst @POTUS‘ Cabinet—and it is NOT working.” pic.twitter.com/L64pCDil6s

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 23, 2025

Leavitt noted that multiple reports had confirmed Russia’s attempts to meddle in the 2016 election, but said that evidence showed the Obama administration had pushed fabricated information from the Steele Dossier — which had been funded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign — suggesting that Trump had actively colluded with the Russians toward that end.

“And [Rubio] also said at that time we discovered deeply troubling actions taken by the FBI, under [Director James] Comey, particularly their acceptance and willingness to rely on the Steele Dossier without verifying its methodology,” Leavitt continued, also pointing out the fact that many legacy media outlets had also run with the information in the Steele Dossier without being terribly curious about its veracity.

To Collins’ additional question — namely that Gabbard had released the tranche of documents in order to curry favor with the president — Leavitt had a more blunt reply: “The only people who are suggesting that the Director of National Intelligence would release evidence to try to boost her standing with the president are the people in this room, who constantly try to sow distrust and chaos amongst the president’s cabinet — and it is NOT working.”