If Karoline Leavitt’s brutal feud with Kaitlan Collins has taught us anything, it’s that the White House press secretary isn’t opposed to sparring with a journalist. As such, it’s not exactly surprising that almost as soon as she became Donald Trump’s press secretary, she got into it with NBC’s Peter Alexander in a very big way.
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Leavitt and Alexander’s first run-in came during her very first White House press briefing. Alexander asked a question about deportations and whether non-violent criminals would be deported before violent offenders, and Leavitt immediately seemed irritated. “The president has said countless times on the campaign trail — I’ve been with him at the rallies, I know you’ve been there covering them, too, Peter — that he is focused on launching the largest mass deportation operation in American history of illegal criminals, and if you are … a foreign national who illegally enters the United States of America, you are, by definition, a criminal,” she said.
Things didn’t get any better when Alexander asked for clarity on how the federal funding freeze may impact some organizations and didn’t have a list of the organizations he was asking about handy. “So you’re asking a hypothetical based on programs that you can’t even identify,” she began with a shady chuckle — prompting an equally shady retort from Alexander. “Let’s do it together, just for Americans at home,” he said. Enter an even more irritated expression from Leavitt, who responded, “I gave you a list of examples.” She then shared a few unaffected programs before saying she would give him a list after the briefing. Of course, it does bear mentioning that in spite of irritated facial expressions and snarky barbs at one another, both Alexander and Leavitt were somewhat cordial. However, the civility wasn’t to last.
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A White House X account deemed Peter Alexander a ‘loser’
Things went from tense-but-civil to outright hostile in February 2025, when Karoline Leavitt and Peter Alexander had another uncomfortable run-in. This time, things kicked off after Alexander mentioned some voters being unimpressed with DOGE cuts. “I love how the media takes a few critics when the overwhelming response from the American people is support for what this administration is doing,” Leavitt clapped back, fake smile in tow (via Daily Mail). Alexander then asked about the administration’s claims that they’d uncovered fraud, prompting yet another plastered-on smile from Leavitt, who shared that an inspector general had uncovered $71 billion in “one single fiscal year.” She added, pointedly, “That is a lot of fraud, Peter.” Cue fact-checking from Alexander, who noted, “To be clear, that $71 billion was from 2015 to 2022, so it wasn’t in just one year.” That saw Leavitt’s smile drop, before she retorted, “So are you defending $71 billion in fraud, Peter?”
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Leavitt ultimately finished off her point by saying the administration wanted to prevent any fraud from happening, while accusing Alexander and other reporters of encouraging it. She then shut down any further questions from him, turning to another reporter and telling Alexander, “That’s your fifth question.”
Things escalated further when the official White House rapid response X account posted a video of the interaction and began name-calling. “@PressSec smacks down fake news loser @PeterAlexander as he tries to run cover for the WASTE, FRAUD and ABUSE in the federal government,” the post read. All the way, yikes. Though Leavitt wasn’t behind the post, we have no doubts she wasn’t opposed to it. Time will tell how this feud progresses. Either way, it’s clear the press secretary isn’t team Alexander, and something tells us he can’t stand Leavitt either.
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