Overview
- At a Dec. 11 White House briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and CNN’s Kaitlan Collins tangled over President Trump’s comments urging parents to buy fewer toys.
- Leavitt said inflation has slowed to an average 2.5% pace, while reporters noted year-over-year CPI was 3% in January and again in September.
- Collins later ran a series of clips on CNN to counter Leavitt’s assertions and to document the network’s prior coverage of high inflation during the Biden years.
- CNN’s Daniel Dale and CBS News’ Nancy Cordes cited CPI data in questioning Leavitt’s figure during the briefing.
- The White House Rapid Response account attacked Collins on X after the exchange, as Leavitt defended the administration’s buy-American and tariff-focused rationale for prices and claimed the economy is improving.