Former Trump White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made a jarring claim about Donald Trump and his attitude toward women during an appearance on Fox News personality Sean Hannity’s “Hang Out” podcast.
Hannity suggested that press secretaries under other presidents did not have the same “freedom” Leavitt enjoyed to openly slam journalists to their faces.
“Well, in a way, I’m sort of emulating what he does, right? It’s sort of his language. I’m just speaking it,” replied Leavitt.
Trump “appreciated those moments very much” and would try to watch her briefings whenever he could, she claimed, calling him a “great boss” and “very uplifting to the people who work for him, very complimentary and very fun.”
The president “likes to see people succeed and he likes to give people new opportunities,” Leavitt continued, before touting his appointment of women during both of his terms to prominent roles, including Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, Kellyanne Conway as senior counsel and Sarah Huckabee Sanders as press secretary.
“In fact, sometimes I think he might listen to women a little bit more than men and I think that he just has such respect,” she claimed.
Critics, however, were quick to point to Trump’s long record of attacks on female journalists, as well as the infamous 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape in which he made lewd comments about women.