Leavitt calls Trump-appointed judge ‘untethered in reality’ following national guard ruling
Karoline Leavitt said that the ruling from Karin Immergut, a Trump-appointed federal judge, was “untethered in reality”.
Immergut temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying any national guard units to Oregon, saying that there was no evidence that recent protests necessitated the presence of national guard troops.
Leavitt said that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) facility in Portland has been “really under siege by these anarchists”.
“They have been disrespecting law enforcement. They’ve been inciting violence,” she added. “We are appealing that decision, as you know, we expect a hearing on it pretty quickly, and we’re very confident in the president’s legal authority to do this.”
Leavitt went on to criticize Democratic leaders throughout the country, like JB Pritzker and Gavin Newsom, for pushing back against the administration’s use of federal troops in blue cities.
“Why should they be concerned about the federal government offering help to make their cities a safer place? They should be concerned about this. They should be concerned about the fact that people in their cities right now are being gunned down every single night, and the president all he’s trying to do is fix it,” the press secretary said.
Key events
Fire destroys home of South Carolina judge who had received death threats
Edward Helmore
The cause of a huge fire at the beachfront home of a South Carolina judge who had reportedly been subjected to death threats is being investigated by state law enforcement investigators.
The blaze at the home of Diane Goodstein – a Democrat-appointed circuit court judge – erupted on Saturday, sending three members of her family to the hospital, including her husband, a former state senator.
However, Goodstein, 69, was walking her dogs at the time the blaze erupted at the three-story home in the luxury gated community on Edisto Beach in Colleton county.
A spokesperson for the South Carolina state law enforcement division (Sled) confirmed it was investigating a fire in the county. “The investigation is active and ongoing. More information may be available as the investigation continues,” a Sled spokesperson told FITSNews.
For his part, John Kittredge, the South Carolina chief justice, told the outlet: “At this time, we do not know whether the fire was accidental or arson. Until that determination is made, Sled chief Mark Keel has alerted local law enforcement to provide extra patrols and security.”
Goodstein, who has served on the state judicial bench since 1989, in September issued a temporary injunction on the release of the state’s voter files to the Trump administration-led US justice department.
Goodstein’s ruling was later publicly criticized by an assistant attorney general for the justice department’s civil rights division, Harmeet Dhillon. The division has been at the forefront of efforts to acquire information, including names, addresses, driver’s license numbers and social security numbers, of more than 3 million registered voters under an executive order targeting “non-citizen voter registration”.
During her press briefing, Leavitt also claimed that the Democratic funding proposal would “require Medicaid to pay more for emergency care provided to illegal aliens than it does for American patients who are disabled, elderly or children”.
This statement is not true, mainly because emergency Medicaid is a way for hospitals to get reimbursement for providing care for any patient, regardless of immigration status, as required under federal law. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by the president earlier this year, cut those federal dollars, and Democrats are seeking to reverse that through their funding extension.
What’s more, according to a recent analysis by KFF, emergency Medicaid spending accounted for less than 1% of the program’s total expenditure between 2017-2023.
White House reaffirms that layoffs will be an ‘unfortunate consequence’ of government shutdown, blames Democratic lawmakers
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the layoffs that the president has telegraphed will be an “unfortunate consequence” of the government shutdown – of which the administration continues to blame Democratic members of congress.
“This conversation about layoffs would not be happening right now if the Democrats did not vote to shut the government down,” Leavitt said.
The administration, including Russ Vought, who leads the Office of Management and Budget, has said that the sweeping reductions-in-force (RIFs) would come as a byproduct of the government shutdown if Trump feels that negotiations to pass a funding extension remain at a standstill.
The Senate will reconvene later today, where the dueling stopgap bills are poised to be rejected again. “We hope that the vote will not fail, because this administration wants to reopen the government. We don’t want to see people laid off,” Leavitt added.
Leavitt calls Trump-appointed judge ‘untethered in reality’ following national guard ruling
Karoline Leavitt said that the ruling from Karin Immergut, a Trump-appointed federal judge, was “untethered in reality”.
Immergut temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying any national guard units to Oregon, saying that there was no evidence that recent protests necessitated the presence of national guard troops.
Leavitt said that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) facility in Portland has been “really under siege by these anarchists”.
“They have been disrespecting law enforcement. They’ve been inciting violence,” she added. “We are appealing that decision, as you know, we expect a hearing on it pretty quickly, and we’re very confident in the president’s legal authority to do this.”
Leavitt went on to criticize Democratic leaders throughout the country, like JB Pritzker and Gavin Newsom, for pushing back against the administration’s use of federal troops in blue cities.
“Why should they be concerned about the federal government offering help to make their cities a safer place? They should be concerned about this. They should be concerned about the fact that people in their cities right now are being gunned down every single night, and the president all he’s trying to do is fix it,” the press secretary said.
White House touts ongoing negotiations in Egypt as ‘incredible achievement’
Karoline Leavitt branded the ongoing technical talks in Egypt between negotiators, including special envoy Steve Witkoff, as “incredible”.
“The president wants to see a cease fire. He wants to see the hostages released, and the technical teams are discussing that as we speak, to ensure that the environment is perfect to release those hostages,” Leavitt said. “They’re going over the list of both the Israeli hostages and also the political prisoners who will be released. And those talks are underway, and the President is very much on the ball and is being apprised of this situation.”
The press secretary just noted that Donald Trump has been in touch with Republican leadership on Capitol Hill.
“The president is being kept very well apprised of the ongoing shutdown,” Leavitt said. “His position is very clear. There’s nothing to negotiate. Just reopen the government and then we can talk about all the important issues facing our country.”
White House repeats misleading claims that Democrats are trying to fund health care for ‘illegal aliens’
At today’s press briefing, Karoline Leavitt continued to repeat the misleading claims from the president and congressional Republicans that the Democrats’ version of a stopgap funding bill is seeking to fund health care for “illegal aliens”.
This is not accurate, as we’ve reported extensively. Undocumented immigrants remain ineligible for federally funded health insurance. The Democrats’ funding patch seeks to reverse many of the cuts to Medicaid that are set to take effect after Trump’s sweeping domestic policy agenda passed earlier this year.
This includes allowing lawfully present noncitizens to still enroll in certain federal health care programs. Leavitt called these immigrants “illegal aliens” who “improperly were granted asylum and paroled under the Biden administration”. All of these people have entered the country legally and are accounted for by the federal government.
Leavitt outlines Trump’s schedule, meeting with Canada’s PM set for Tuesday
Karoline Leavitt outlines that President Trump will be hosting the Canadian prime minister Mark Carney on Tuesday for a working meeting here the White House.
On Thursday, the President will host his eighth cabinet meeting, and then he’ll host the president of Finland, Alexander Stubb, at the White House for a meeting.
Ahead of the White House press briefing, it’s worth noting that a short while ago, Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson, signed an executive order to establish “Ice free zones” throughout the city.
This order prohibits immigration agents from using city property to carry out any federal immigration operations. “We will not tolerate ICE agents violating our residents’ constitutional rights nor will we allow the federal government to disregard our local authority,” Johnson said.
He went on to support Illinois governor JB Pritzker’s lawsuit against the Trump administration for deploying National Guard troops to Chicago. “We reject any attempt to occupy Chicago and we will use every tool at our disposal to resist this federal overreach,” the mayor added.
We’re due to hear from White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, shortly. We’ll bring you the latest lines as we get them.
Donald Trump has said that he had a “very good” telephone call with Brazil’s president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva this morning and that the pair mainly discussed the economy and trade.
“We will be having further discussions, and will get together in the not too distant future, both in Brazil and the United States,” Trump added in a post on Truth Social.
