White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt sparked a frenzy on Sunday after making a startling admission as to President Donald Trump’s plans for the ongoing U.S.-Israel military siege on Iran.
“Mothers out there are worried that we’re going to have a draft, that they’re going to see their sons and daughters get involved in this,” said Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, speaking with Leavitt Sunday. “What do you want to say about the president’s plans for troops on the ground? As we know, it’s been largely an air campaign up until now.”
In a stunning admission, Leavitt told Bartiromo that mandatory conscription – not seen since the Vietnam War – had not been ruled out by her boss.
“It has been, and it will continue to be, and President Trump wisely does not remove options off of the table,” Leavitt said.
“I know a lot of politicians like to do that quickly, but the president, as commander in chief, wants to continue to assess the success of this military operation. It’s not part of the current plan right now, but the president, again, wisely keeps his options on the table.”
Leavitt’s remarks sent immediate shockwaves among critics, many of whom took her comments as a sign that conscription was imminent.
“Karoline Leavitt refuses to rule out INITIATING A DRAFT to send Americans to fight in Iran!” wrote the progressive political activism organization Call to Activism Sunday in a social media post on X to their more than 1.2 million followers. “Translation: they won’t even promise your kids aren’t next.”
Mats Nilsson, a geopolitical commentator and author, suggested that a draft would tank the Republican Party’s future political prospects even further, with the GOP already on track for a difficult uphill battle in the upcoming midterm elections.
“Karoline Leavitt refusing to rule out a Draft,” Nilsson wrote Sunday in a social media post on X. “Once the Congressman's and Ivy League parent's children get drafted it'll be a whole other ballgame.”
And X user “AnatolijUkraine,” a purported Ukrainian-born political commentator, bluntly called Leavitt’s admission “unbelievable.”
“They may not be saying the word ‘draft’ out loud, but when they refuse to rule out sending Americans into Iran and keep insisting every option stays on the table, the message is clear enough: your kids are part of the gamble now,” they wrote Sunday in a social media post on X.Unbelievable.
They may not be saying the word “draft” out loud, but when they refuse to rule out sending Americans into Iran and keep insisting every option stays on the table, the message is clear enough: your kids are part of the gamble now.
Karoline Leavitt said ground… https://t.co/hhgcEs4ClA
— AnatolijUkraine (@AnatoliUkraine) March 8, 2026