What started as a tense exchange during a White House press briefing just became one of the most talked-about media meltdowns of the year.
NBC’s Yamiche Alcindor came in with an agenda—and Karoline Leavitt dismantled it in real time. It all unfolded when the topic shifted to President Trump’s controversial Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Trump had just shown the South African leader a supercut of graphic clips, alleging a “white genocide” against farmers in South Africa—footage that sparked immediate backlash online, with questions swirling about its authenticity and intent.
But at the White House podium, it wasn’t Trump defending the moment. It was Karoline Leavitt—27, unshaken, standing firm—as Alcindor went in with a question that crossed a line.
“What the president showed wasn’t true,” Alcindor fired. “That wasn’t a burial site. So I wonder—why did the president choose to lie?”
