White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had no time for HuffPost’s theatrics this week, unloading on liberal reporter S.V. Dáte after he questioned President Donald Trump’s upcoming peace talks in Budapest with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Dáte, a HuffPost correspondent known for his ongoing hostility toward Trump, texted Leavitt last week with a loaded question: Was the president “aware of the significance of Budapest” when choosing the Hungarian capital as the location for the proposed talks?
Leavitt wasn’t having it. Sharing the exchange on X, she exposed what she called Dáte’s pattern of “bombarding” her phone with “Democrat talking points” disguised as journalism.
“For context, S.V. Dáte of the Huffington Post is not a journalist interested in the facts,” Leavitt wrote. “He is a left-wing hack who has consistently attacked President Trump for years and constantly bombards my phone with Democrat talking points.”
The HuffPost writer appeared to be referencing the 1994 Budapest Memorandum—an agreement where Ukraine surrendered its Soviet-inherited nuclear weapons in exchange for security assurances from Russia, including a promise to respect its sovereignty.
“Does he not see why Ukraine might object to that site? Who suggested Budapest?” Dáte pressed.
Leavitt’s response? Blunt and brutal: “Your mom did.”
When Dáte pushed back—“Is this funny to you?”—Leavitt doubled down: “It’s funny to me that you actually consider yourself a journal [sic]. You are a far-left hack who nobody takes seriously, including your colleagues in the media, they just don’t tell you that to your face.”
She ended the exchange with a message many conservatives would likely cheer: “Stop texting me your disingenuous, biased, and bulls–t questions.”
Leavitt’s unapologetic tone echoed the Trump White House’s longstanding frustration with biased media coverage. She criticized Dáte’s public persona, calling him an “activist masquerading as a reporter” and skewering his X feed, which she described as reading like an “anti-Trump personal diary.”
Despite getting roasted, Dáte wasn’t ready to let it go. He attempted to return to his original question under Leavitt’s X post, tweeting, “Feel better now? Now can you answer the question? Please and thank you.”
It seems the press secretary isn’t alone in her contempt for HuffPost’s partisan slant. When Dáte reached out to Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell for a comment on War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s choice of a red, white, and blue tie during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent White House visit, Parnell responded with a mic-drop: “Your mom bought it for him — and it’s a patriotic American tie, moron.”
Looks like Dáte’s not just striking out with Leavitt—he’s catching flak from across the administration.
