White House Press Secretary Flaunts “Fake News Receipts” to Defend Trump’s Shrinking Schedule, Calls Him “Most Accessible President”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt angrily dismissed a New York Times report on Nov. 15 that said President Donald Trump has sharply cut his official appearances. “I want to point out one fake news story over the weekend before I let you all go,” Leavitt told the press corps, signaling the start of a heated briefing.

The Times analysis found the president scaled back public events by 39 percent, from 1,688 in the first ten months of his first term to 1,029 this year. The paper said Mr. Trump now begins his official day later than he did before, with events more often starting after midday rather than around 10 30 in the morning.

To bolster her point Leavitt held up a different article from the same outlet. She waved a story titled “Biden is ‘doing 100 percent fine’ after tripping while boarding Air Force One.” “It’s deeply unfortunate that the story was written by the same outlet and the same reporter who wrote this,” Leavitt said.

She pushed back on the idea the president is less active. “[Trump] is the most accessible president,” Leavitt insisted. She said Mr. Trump had a “preventative” MRI last month and that results would be released.

Mr. Trump took his own shot at the Times on Truth Social and mixed insult with certainty. “The Radical Left Lunatics in the soon to fold New York Times did a hit piece on me that I am perhaps losing my Energy…,” he wrote. He then attacked the reporter by name. “The writer of the story, Katie Rogers… is a third rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out.”

He added a medical claim that he said proves the point. “There will be a day when I run low on Energy… but with a PERFECT PHYSICAL EXAM AND A COMPREHENSIVE COGNITIVE TEST (‘That was aced’) JUST RECENTLY TAKEN, it certainly is not now!” Other outlets reported his approval rating was under water with many pollsters.

The Times report followed other media accounts that raised questions about Mr. Trump’s stamina. Reporters and viewers had flagged several public moments where the president appeared to nod off or move slowly, and those clips added fuel to a debate over his fitness for office.

Leavitt drew a contrast with the previous administration as she defended the president. “Unlike the Biden White House, who covered up Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and hid him from the press, President Trump and his entire team have been open and transparent about the president’s health, which remains exceptional,” she said.

The White House pointed to a memo from the president’s physician to support the claim of good health. “As part of President Donald J. Trump’s comprehensive executive physical, advanced imaging was performed because men in his age group benefit from a thorough evaluation of cardiovascular and abdominal health.” The memo said imaging was “perfectly normal,” that there was “no evidence of arterial narrowing impairing blood flow or abnormalities in the heart or major vessels” and that Trump’s cardiovascular system shows “excellent health.”

“President Trump’s physician has released two detailed reports… and anyone who watches President Trump in his daily public events can clearly see he is in impressive physical and mental shape, with an unrelenting work ethic,” Leavitt said. Reporters pressed for the underlying records while the White House promised more documents.

Featured image via X screengrab