WH's Leavitt Calls NYTimes Reporter 'Left-Wing Stenographer'

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt unleashed a blistering attack on New York Times reporter Peter Baker, branding him a “left-wing stenographer” after he drew a provocative parallel between President Trump’s media policies and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian crackdown on press freedoms. 

The fiery confrontation erupted during a tense exchange sparked by Baker’s questioning of the Trump administration’s bold move to seize control of the White House press pool and bar Associated Press reporters from key access points, including the Oval Office and Air Force One.

Baker, a seasoned journalist with decades of experience, including a stint as a Moscow correspondent during the early years of Putin’s regime, took to X on Tuesday to air his concerns. In a pointed post, he likened the White House’s actions to the Kremlin’s playbook, writing, “Having served as a Moscow correspondent in the early days of Putin’s reign, this reminds me of how the Kremlin took over its own press pool and made sure that only compliant journalists were given access.” His comparison framed the administration’s decision as a dangerous step toward stifling dissent and curating a compliant media corps, echoing tactics he’d witnessed firsthand in Russia.

Leavitt, the 27-year-old press secretary known for her sharp tongue and unapologetic style, wasted no time in firing back. “Give me a break, Peter,” she wrote, dismissing his critique as overblown theatrics.

 “Moments after you tweeted this, the President invited journalists into the Oval and took questions for nearly an hour. Your hysterical reaction to our long overdue and much-needed change to an outdated organization is precisely why we made it.” Her retort painted Baker’s alarm as not just premature but willfully blind to the administration’s openness, casting the press pool shakeup as a necessary correction to a broken system rather than a power grab.

But Leavitt didn’t stop there. She pivoted to a personal broadside, taking aim at Baker and what she portrayed as a broader rot within the media establishment. “The era when self-styled journalists—really just left-wing stenographers like yourself—could unilaterally control the narrative and decide who gets to ask what questions is long gone,” she declared. 

Her words bristled with contempt, framing Baker as a relic of a bygone time when, in her view, ideologically driven reporters masquerading as impartial observers held unchecked sway over public discourse.