President Trump raised eyebrows again during a Newsmax interview when he gushed about Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in a way that many people found awkward. He called her a star and said: “It’s that face. It’s that brain. It’s those lips, the way they move. They move like she’s a machine gun.”
He added: “She’s a great person, actually. But she’s – I don’t think anybody has ever had a better press secretary than Karoline. She’s been amazing.” At 27, Leavitt is the fifth press secretary to serve under Trump and the first during his second term.
Online reactions were quick and divided. Some defended his enthusiasm while others called it “cringe,” “creepy,” and “deeply inappropriate.” One person said: “Ewwwwwwwwwwww. Why are we speaking about women like this.” Another said: “He’s a creepy old man. He doesn’t even understand what he just said. Major yikes.”
Others pushed back and claimed it was taken out of context. One X user said: “Her lips are ‘like a machine gun’. They obliterate the press.”
In the same interview, Trump was also asked if he would consider pardoning Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was recently convicted on two federal counts involving prostitution. Trump didn’t rule it out but said: “He was essentially, I guess, sort of half-innocent.”
He continued: “Still in jail or something, but he was celebrating a victory. But I guess it wasn’t as good of a victory.”
Trump said he and Combs were once “very friendly” and that he “got along with him great,” but admitted: “I didn’t know him well.”
Things changed when Trump got into politics. He said: “When I ran for office, he was very hostile. It’s hard, you know? We’re human beings. And we don’t like to have things cloud our judgment, right?”
He added: “When you knew someone and you were fine, and then you run for office, and he made some terrible statements… I don’t know. It makes it more difficult to do.”