Michael Leavitt, the brother of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, attacked the Washington Post Sunday as his and the White House’s official narrative on a lengthy custody battle and immigration arrest was challenged by the outlet’s reporting.
In 2014, Michael Leavitt had a child with Bruna Ferreira, a migrant who obtained a work permit and limited immigration protections in 2012 and would later make Karoline Leavitt her child’s godmother. Ferreira was arrested by immigration officials last month, and the White House has painted her as a “criminal” and an absent mother.
But, as the Post reported Sunday, “court records, family photos and Ferreira’s account tell a different story,” and one that sparked Michael Leavitt’s outrage.
“[The Washington Post is] trying to use this whole situation to push a narrative to smear me,” Michael Leavitt wrote to the Post in a text message, having declined to speak with the outlet by telephone.
When Ferreira’s arrest was first reported in mid-November, the White House tried to distance Karoline Leavitt from the mother of her brother’s child, insisting that Karoline Leavitt hadn’t spoken to Ferreira in years. The Post’s reporting, however, cast doubt on that claim.
“[Ferreira] selected [Karoline] Leavitt to be her son’s godmother. She signed off on her son’s trip to the White House Easter egg hunt this spring,” the Post writes. “And she said she ‘moved mountains’ to ensure he could attend Leavitt’s wedding in January.”
Micheal Leavitt’s insistence that he had no involvement with her immigration arrest was also challenged by Ferreira, who told the Post that both Michael Leavitt and his father, Bob Leavitt, had told Ferreira’s sister that Ferreira should “self deport,” something that Ferreira’s attorney, Todd Pomerleau, described to the Post as “a trap.”
Ferreira would go on to say that while her relationship with Karoline Leavitt wasn’t intimate, telling the Post “obviously we’re not BFFs and we’re not FaceTiming," she outright rejected the White House’s assertion that no relationship between the two existed.
“Ferreira said she could not recall when they last spoke, but said she met Karoline Leavitt’s now husband and is constantly in the family’s orbit because of their son,” the Post reported. “Her lawyer, Pomerleau, said it is false that they have not spoken in years.”