Karoline Leavitt Spars With NBC Reporter In Briefing Room Spat Over White South African Murders

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt sparred with NBC News White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor during Thursday’s briefing after Alcindor claimed that President Donald Trump had presented an “unsubstantiated” video of crosses marking the graves of white farmers in South Africa.

Alcindor repeated several times that the video was “unsubstantiated” and “not true” before asking what the process was for vetting such videos before showing them to world leaders like Trump did during an Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Leavitt, who was having none of it, fired back immediately.

WATCH:

.@PressSec nukes Fake News @Yamiche for LYING about the burial ground of white farmers killed in South Africa pic.twitter.com/BhCTGumnoz

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 22, 2025

“The president showed a video that he said showed more than 1,000 burial sites of white South Africans that he said were murdered. We know that that was not true and that the video wasn’t true, and so I wonder, why did the president choose to show that —” Alcindor said.

“What’s not true, Yamiche?” Leavitt interrupted.

“It’s not true that the video was showing a burial site. It is unsubstantiated that’s the case —” Alcindor continued.

“No, it’s — it is true that that video showed the crosses that represent —” Leavitt pushed back.

“It’s not the burial site and that’s what the president claimed —” Alcindor tried again.

“The video showed images of crosses in South Africa about white farmers who have been killed and politically persecuted because of the color of their skin, and those crosses are representing their lives and the fact that they are now dead and their government did nothing about it,” Leavitt said as Alcindor continued to try to talk over her.

“Are you disputing that there’s no —” Leavitt pressed.

“I’m disputing the fact that the video showed what the president claimed it showed, because it did not show that,” Alcindor insisted. “But even more, who at the White House is responsible for —”

“It did show that, it showed white crosses representing people who have perished because of racial persecution,” Leavitt continued.

“— verifying the videos that the president shows, and what protocols are in place when there’s unsubstantiated information being put out for the world leaders —” Alcindor tried one more time.

“Yamiche, what’s unsubstantiated about the video?” Leavitt asked again — and then she noted that The Associated Press had also shared a photo of the same memorial, along with a caption that read, “A view of crosses planted at the White Cross Monument, each one marking a white farmer who has been killed in a farm murder, is seen on a hillside in Ysterberg near Polokwane, South Africa.”

“So it is substantiated, not just by that video and the physical evidence that everybody saw on display in the Oval Office, but also by another outlet in this room, The Associated Press, so you should take it up with them if you believe the claim is unsubstantiated.”

FYI: @Yamiche — this is from the @AP pic.twitter.com/UfzMhbUuDK

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 22, 2025