FULL White House press briefing with Karoline Leavitt

13 days ago
15

President Donald Trump's White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt delivers a White House briefing amid the administration's deportation efforts and continued ceasefire conversations between Ukraine and Russia.

At one point during the briefing, Leavitt responded to demands that the U.S. return the Statue of Liberty to France, who gifted it to the Americans in the 1880s. "Absolutely not," Leavitt said. "My advice to that unnamed, low-level French politician would be to remind them that it's only because of the United States that the French are not speaking German right now." French politician Raphaël Glucksmann made the comments at a recent convention of his political party, Place Publique.

Leavitt also addressed President Trump's claims that former Joe Biden's pardons are void, after alleging that the former president signed them with an "autopen."

CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins asked Leavitt if, "attorneys here at the White House told President Trump that he has the legal authority to undo a pardon simply because it was signed by an autopen?"

"The president was begging the question that I think a lot of journalists in this room should be asking," Leavitt said. "The president [Trump] was raising the point that, did the president [Biden] even know about these pardons?"

"Was his legal signature used without his consent or knowledge?" Leavitt added. "That's not just the president or me raising those questions Kaitlan. According to the New York Post, there are Biden officials from the previous White House who raised those questions and wondered if the president was even consulted about his legally binding signature being signed onto documents. I think it's a question that everyone in this room should be looking into because certainly that would propose perhaps criminal or illegal behavior if staff members were signing the President of the United States' autograph without his consent."

"Biden is on the record talking about issuing preemptive pardons to these people," Collins said.

"But was he aware of his signature being used on every single pardon? That's a question you should ask the Biden White House," Leavitt said.

"Is there any evidence on that? That he wasn't aware of it?" Collins asked.

"You're a reporter, you should find out," Leavitt replied.

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