Veteran AP reporter Josh Boak took a bold step into contentious territory during a recent press briefing, confronting White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt with a challenging question that quickly escalated tensions. As the stock market continued to plummet and the administration faced mounting scrutiny over its handling of the so-called “Gulf of America,” Boak asked Leavitt directly if she had ever paid a tariff. The question, while straightforward, struck a nerve and set the stage for a fiery exchange.
An Associated Press reporter taxed White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s patience when he asked her Tuesday if she had ever paid a tariff.
The clash came amid tanking stock market and a battle with the press over the ‘Gulf of America’, as the press briefing took a personal tone.
It happened when Leavitt called on the reporter from the AP – an outlet the White House has banned from ‘pooled’ Oval Office visits and Air Force One trips amid fury over the wire service’s refusal to adopt Trump’s renaming of the Gulf.
By the time it ended, an ‘insulted’ Leavitt said she regretted calling on the reporter in the first place.
The reporter, Josh Boak, was among several who pressed Leavitt on the plummeting stock market, amid massive uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs – on a day the president said he would double levies on steel and aluminum and Ontario imposed and then suspended a tariff on energy it sends to the U.S.
He asked Leavitt about an upcoming Trump speech to the Business Roundtable.
‘He’s going there today as he’s proposing tax hikes in the form of tariffs. And I’m curious he’s not for why he’s prioritizing that over the tax cuts,’ the reporter asked, echoing business criticism that has crept into the discourse amid market jitters.
‘Not true – he’s not doing that,’ Leavitt interrupted the question.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said she was ‘insulted’ by a reporter who asked her: ‘Have you ever paid a tariff?’
Leavitt is “insulted” by AP questioning of Trump’s Tariff
