Donald Trump’s newly named pick for White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, once praised then-Vice President Mike Pence for certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election win but later erased those comments while running for Congress on an election denial platform.
CNN reported that Leavitt deleted two social media posts from early 2021. One featured a video of Pence calling the January 6 Capitol riot “a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol” and commended him for his role in certifying the election results. Another post described a Capitol police officer as “a hero” for defending the Capitol during the attack.
The posts were removed as Leavitt launched a 2022 congressional campaign in New Hampshire, during which she leaned into false claims about election fraud. “I’m the only candidate in this race to say that President Trump won in 2020, and I will work my hardest every single day to make sure we get to the bottom of it,” she stated in an interview posted to X (formerly Twitter).
Leavitt doubled down on her stance in another interview, asserting, “If we were to audit all 50 states in this country, there is absolutely no way we would find Joe Biden legitimately won 81 million votes. I fundamentally do not believe that, and I will tell you the majority of voters on the Republican side do not believe that either. We feel as though this election was taken away from us.”
CNN’s investigation found that the deleted tweets were among the few missing from Leavitt’s social media timeline between November 2020 and January 2021. Most of her posts from that period focused on the success of Operation Warp Speed or echoed unfounded claims of voter fraud in Georgia.
While Leavitt kept a tweet expressing heartbreak over the Capitol riot and thanking police for ensuring her safety, she did not explain why other posts were removed when questioned by CNN.
In response to inquiries, Trump’s transition team defended Leavitt, stating, “Karoline was completely correct in saying there were irregularities with the 2020 election and any cases of fraud should be investigated in order to protect and preserve the sanctity of our Democracy. She will make a wonderful Press Secretary championing the policies and agenda of President Trump.”
CNN noted that Leavitt’s pivot from supporting democratic processes on January 6 to embracing election denial reflects a broader trend among Republicans, many of whom initially distanced themselves from Trump after the riot but later rallied behind him as his influence grew.
