White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted that President Donald Trump was "simply joking" when he repeatedly suggested canceling U.S. elections.
During Thursday's White House briefing, one reporter noted that Trump told Reuters that "we shouldn't even have an election."
"President Trump has talked twice in recent days, once in the Kennedy Center, and then to Reuters again last night, about canceling the election," the reporter said. "Why is he talking about this?"
"I was in that interview," Leavitt said. "It was a closed-door interview. Obviously, there was no audio or video. The president was simply joking."
"He was saying, we're doing such a great job, we're doing everything the American people thought, maybe we should just keep rolling," she added. "But he was speaking facetiously."
"You said that he was joking," another reporter pointed out. Americans for generations have fought and died for this democracy. Are you saying the president finds the idea of canceling elections funny?"
"Andrew, were you in the room?" Leavitt snapped. "I was in the room, I heard the conversation, and only someone like you would take that so seriously and pose a question that way."
The press secretary quickly moved on to the next reporter, refusing to answer a follow-up question.