White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt committed to "telling the truth from this podium every single day" at her first press briefing on Tuesday and said the White House would "call out" media outlets that reported perceived misinformation.
After providing an update on President Donald Trump's ongoing mass deportation operation of illegal immigrants, Leavitt took questions from reporters.
In an exchange highlighted by Mediaite, Zeke Miller of The Associated Press asked Leavitt if she sees herself as "advocating on behalf of the president or providing unvarnished truth."
"I commit to telling the truth from this podium every single day," Leavitt said. "I commit to speaking on behalf of the president of the United States. That is my job. And I will say it's very easy to speak truth from this podium when you have a president who is implementing policies that are wildly popular with the American people; and that's exactly what this administration is doing. It's correcting the lies and the wrongs of the past four years — many of the lies that have been told to your faces in this very briefing room. I will not do that."
Leavitt then turned the question around on Miller, asking if the media members present could make the same commitment to truth in reporting on the administration.
"But since you brought up truth, Zeke, I would like to point out while I vowed to provide the truth from this podium, we ask that all of you in this room hold yourselves to that same standard," she said. "We know for a fact there have been lies that have been pushed by many legacy media outlets in this country about this president, about his family, and we will not accept that. We will call you out when we feel that your reporting is wrong or there is misinformation about this White House; so yes, I will hold myself to the truth, and I expect everyone in this room to do the same."
According to Axios, the press secretary also said that the new Trump White House would give priority to nontraditional media outlets in the briefing room.
Podcasters, independent journalists, and social media influencers are among the new media outlets that will now be eligible for White House press credentials.
Leavitt reportedly hailed the shift as indicative of the Republican administration's candor and called Trump the "most transparent and accessible president in American history."