BREAKING: White House Press Sec. Leavitt Fields Questions from AMAC on Iran Ceasefire, Trump’s Midterm Message to Seniors

AMAC Newsline Editor-in-Chief Shane Harris was in the White House Press Briefing Room on Wednesday for Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s first Q&A session since President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire in the Iran conflict yesterday evening.

Harris was the official “New Media” representative for the briefing, meaning that he had the opportunity to ask the first questions of the day. He pressed Leavitt on the President’s message to the country on what Operation Epic Fury achieved and the administration’s midterm message to seniors:

HARRIS: “Two questions for you. First, following the President’s announcement of the ceasefire, if this is indeed the end of hostilities in Iran, what is the President’s message to the American people about what was achieved for our country through Operation Epic Fury?”

LEAVITT: “Sure. I think I just laid out a significant portion of that in my opening remarks. Six weeks ago, the President looked the American people in the eye directly, and he told them that he launched this operation to take out the imminent threat that was posed by Iran, and that threat has now been greatly destroyed. Their navy, their missiles, their defense industrial base and their desire and their plan to build a nuclear bomb inside their country is no longer going to be allowed, can no longer happen, thanks to the remarkable success of Operation Epic Fury. Over the course of the last 38 days, that has been absolutely achieved. And now we’re moving into the next phase of this, which is negotiating period, to put some fine points on this and to hopefully broker an agreement that can achieve long term peace in the Middle East.”

HARRIS: “And then second, what is the President’s message to American seniors who have a much higher voter participation rate and they’re likely to be a key swing vote in the midterm elections?”

LEAVITT: “Well, the president loves our seniors across the country. And as you know, the President signed the One Big, Beautiful Bill, the Working Families Tax Cut last year, which greatly reduced taxes on Social Security for our seniors. In fact, thanks to the Working Families Tax Cut, nearly 90 percent of seniors will no longer pay tax on their Social Security. That’s a huge win for our seniors and also for our middle class and working families across the country. With the no tax on tips provision and the no tax on overtime, next week is tax week. You’ll hear a lot from the President about how his policies have benefited the American people. And I’m proud to report that the President will be traveling next week to the great state of Nevada and Arizona to tout this historic accomplishment over the course of the next week.”

You can watch the full clip of the exchange here:

AMAC becomes the latest “New Media” outlet to be featured in the briefing room, joining the likes of Axios, Breitbart, The Federalist, and other independent and alternative media sources. The purpose of featuring these non-mainstream voices is to break the stranglehold that the legacy press has enjoyed on the flow of information from the White House to the American people.

Leavitt’s decision to democratize the briefing room and open it up to a more diverse range of voices and opinions is yet another example of her trailblazing tenure as press secretary. She is also the youngest person to ever hold the role as she faces down a typically hostile media.

Wednesday’s press conference came at a particularly pivotal time as a nascent ceasefire between the United States and Iran takes hold. President Trump has agreed to suspend U.S. military operations in the Middle East country for at least two weeks as long as Iran allows ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, as the two sides negotiate.