WH’s Leavitt vs. CBS Reporter: You Should All Be Very Happy We Finally Have An Admin Looking Into Russian Election Interference
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday tussled with CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang over DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s involvement in the probe into the Fulton County elections office.
WEIJIA JIANG, CBS NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Karoline. Did President Trump himself ever ask DNI Gabbard to head down to Fulton County, Georgia? WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY KAROLINE LEAVITT: The president was asked and answered that question just yesterday. I’ve seen a lot of the media in this room get very caught up with the semantics of why Tulsi Gabbard is there. I will tell you why, and the president agrees with this, because election security is essential to national security. And as the director of national intelligence, it is a part of Ms. Gabbard’s role to make sure that American elections are free of foreign interference and that American elections are safe and secure. And so the ODNI director is working with the FBI on this effort, and the president wholeheartedly supports both Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard in ensuring that American elections are safe, are secure, and are free of foreign intervention. Is there any indication that there’s foreign influence? JIANG: Is there any indication that there’s foreign influence? REPORTER: Are the federal law enforcement involved in the search of Ms. Guthrie? LEAVITT: Well, excuse me one second. It’s the media who has said that there’s Russian interference in American elections. You guys have been saying that for many, many years. And specifically in Fulton County. Well, the people in this room, considering that you all said for many years that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump, you should all be very happy that we finally have an administration that is looking into that, and we’ll be happy to keep you posted.
