President Donald Trump's press secretary flipped out at a New York Times reporter on Wednesday over a story he shared.
On Tuesday, the New York Times' Chief White House Correspondent, Peter Baker, shared a story from local news station WUSA9 on X showing that Trump's move to federalize the Washington, D.C. police force had caused restaurant reservations to plummet by 25%. The post had over 1 million views, and prompted White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to respond.
Leavitt called Baker a "junior Democrat comms staffer" on Wednesday and claimed that restaurant reservations were up 30% as of Aug. 17. WUSA9 updated its story to reflect the data Leavitt cited, and Baker replied to his previous tweet saying that the story had been updated.
That didn't sit well with Leavitt, who replied to Baker's new post on Wednesday afternoon.
"I exposed Peter Baker of the New York Times for sharing fake news about the impact of President Trump’s efforts to Make DC Safe Again," Leavitt posted on X. "But instead of fully retracting his original post that received nearly a million views, Peter posted a mealymouthed (sic) reply trying to excuse why he got it completely wrong to begin with."
"The 'Chief White House Correspondent' for the New York Times cares more about attacking President Trump than accurately reporting the news," the post continued.
🚨This is the problem with activist reporters and why Americans’ trust in the mass media is at the lowest point in more than five decades.
I exposed Peter Baker of the New York Times for sharing fake news about the impact of President Trump’s efforts to Make DC Safe Again.
But… https://t.co/OfG5meI72epic.twitter.com/gCvr1vfvBI
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) August 20, 2025