CBS Has Karoline Leavitt And The World Scratching Their Heads With This Question

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not hide her disbelief Wednesday when CBS News correspondent Ed O’Keefe pressed her for examples of when President Donald Trump had been “falsely” accused of racism.

The exchange came after Trump released a statement marking the death of civil rights activist Jesse Jackson. In that statement, the president said he had been “falsely and consistently called a racist by the scoundrels and lunatics on the radical left, Democrats all,” while noting it had “always pleasure to help Jesse along the way.”

O’Keefe zeroed in on that line during the briefing.

“Where or when does the president believe he’s been falsely called racist?” he asked.

Leavitt appeared taken aback.

“You’re kidding, right?” she responded. “I will pull you a plethora of examples. I’m going to get my team in that room to start going through the internet of radical Democrats throughout the years and who have accused this president falsely of being a racist. And I’m sure there’s many people in this room and on network television across the country who have accused him of the same. In fact, I know that because I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

Her response set the tone for what has been a recurring political battle dating back to Trump’s first presidential campaign.

When Trump launched his 2015 bid for the White House, critics accused him of targeting Mexicans with racist rhetoric after he said some illegal immigrants were rapists. During the 2016 race, then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton accused Trump of “peddling bigotry and prejudice and paranoia.”

The accusations continued following the 2017 riot in Charlottesville, Virginia. Democrats argued that Trump encouraged white supremacy through his remarks after the rally. Trump stated at the time that while there were “very fine people” present, neo-Nazis and white nationalists should be “condemned totally.”

During the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, several candidates escalated their rhetoric. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke each labeled Trump a “white supremacist” during the campaign.