Karoline Leavitt floundered when asked a question about whether Trump ordering an investigation into Chris Krebs was an abuse of power

Karoline Leavitt floundered when she fielded a question about whether or not Donald Trump was abusing his power by asking the Department of Justice to investigate Chris Krebs, who shot down Trump’s lies about the 2020 election being rigged.

Trump fired Krebs shortly after he ruled that the 2020 election was among the safest in recent history, opting to do so via a tweet.

The president, who suffered a mental collapse after a ‘senile’ moment last week, has long pedaled conspiracy theories that the election that saw Joe Biden ascend to the White House was “rigged” and “stolen” from him.

Leavitt fielded a question about the controversy at today’s White House press briefing just days after erupted in fury at another journalist who asked an innocent question. It comes after Trump suffered a mental collapse after a ‘senile’ moment last week and came up with a ludicrous way to make himself look taller.

Today, asking about the Krebs affair, one reporter asked Leavitt: “The president has long said that it would be an abuse of power to direct prosecutors to investigate them. Last week, President Trump explicitly directed the Justice Department to scrutinize Chris Krebs to see if it can find any evidence of criminal wrongdoing. How is that not an abuse of power to direct the Justice Department to look into an individual, a named individual?”

Leavitt floundered as she sought to answer his question without compromising the Trump administration’s goals. She simply stated: “Look, the president signed that executive order. It’s the position of the president and this White House that it’s well within his authority to do it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have signed it. And, he signed it, and that’s his policy.”

The briefing was expected to cover a wide array of topics, from the recent meeting with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to the ongoing world trade war the U.S. perpetuated with most countries, but especially China.

Trump and Bukele fielded questions from the Oval Office on Monday and were asked tough questions about the agreement the presidents have to send immigrants from the U.S. to El Salvador’s maximum-security prison, CECOT.

One such man who was sent there was wrongfully deported from the U.S., leading to a litany of litigation from lawyers and advocates demanding his safe return to the U.S.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was sent back to his home country of El Salvador after living for 15 years in the U.S. Several courts ruled his deportation illegal given that he had been awarded protected status from an immigration court for fears that the notorious MS-13 gang would persecute him.

The Trump administration has reiterated claims that he’s a leader of the gang who was hiding out in Maryland, with Leavitt once again slamming the man during her Tuesday press briefing.

She provided a status update on the number of deportations across the country as she listed several specific deportations of alleged rapists and murderers across the country.

Other topics covered during the press briefing included manufacturing jobs and the trade relationship with China. Leavitt emphasized Trump’s stance that China needs to be the one to come to the table.

When asked, she didn’t rule out the possibility that Trump would grant a reprieve on tariffs to the country should it reach a TikTok deal with the U.S. before the extended June deadline, but she reiterated that, according to Trump, “the ball is in Trump’s court.”

There are currently 145% tariffs against China levied by the U.S. and 125% reciprocal tariffs on all U.S. goods from China. The trade war has been described as a “bingo hopping” operation between the two countries that threatens to decimate the global market — which Trump’s initial round of tariffs did before he granted most countries a 90-day pause.

Harvard also became a topic of contention, with Leavitt stating that “Harvard should apologize” for failing to comply with Trump’s mandate to abolish diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as she emphasized the wealth of funding that Harvard lost — over $2.2 billion. She slammed the decision as an act of antisemitism — but for Harvard, it’s about protecting free speech.