Hakeem Jeffries twists Karoline Leavitt’s words about ballroom as Trump priority

As images of the White House’s demolished East Wing led the national news, top Democrats shared a video of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt seeming to say that construction of the new ballroom is President Donald Trump’s top priority.

“At this moment in time, of course, the ballroom is really the president’s main priority,” Leavitt said in a five-second clip that leading Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., shared on X.

Jeffries’ Oct. 23 post decried Leavitt’s comment: “The Trump administration just declared that erecting a ballroom is the President’s main priority. Meanwhile. The cost of living is way too high and the Republican health care crisis threatens millions of Americans.”

Sharing the same clip, the House Democratic Caucus wrote Oct. 23 on X, “So, Trump’s MAIN priority is a $300 MILLION ballroom? Not lowering costs. Not saving health care. Not reopening the government. Got it.”

And the Democratic National Committee’s X account shared a photo of Leavitt overlayed with a quote reading, “The ballroom is the president’s main priority.”

The clip of Leavitt’s statement is real, but Jeffries and the House Democratic Caucus clipped her comments in a misleading way that removes the context: Leavitt never said the ballroom is a more important priority for the president than inflation, health care or ending the federal government shutdown. 

As one wing of the iconic white structure was being turned to rubble nearby, reporters at an Oct. 23 White House briefing questioned Leavitt about the project.

In the clip Democrats shared, Leavitt was responding to a question about Trump’s priorities on White House construction, not about all policies.

Here’s the question that prompted Leavitt’s answer, and her response:

Reporter: In addition to the ballroom and the Rose Garden patio, is the president looking at any other renovations or significant kinds of projects here at the White House?

Leavitt: Not to my knowledge, no, but he’s a builder at heart, clearly. And so, his heart and his mind is always churning about how to improve things here on the White House grounds. But at this moment in time, of course, the ballroom is really the president’s main priority.

We contacted Jeffries’ office and the Democratic Caucus on Oct. 23 and Oct. 24 and received no replies. As of publication, the X posts by Jeffries and the caucus remained on the X platform.

When we contacted the White House, the press office referred us to an Oct. 23  X post by an official White House account, Rapid Response 47.

That post reshared an Oct. 23 X post by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., that was similar to Jeffries’. The Rapid Response 47 account said Leavitt “was answering a question specifically about construction projects on the White House grounds.” The Rapid Response 47 post also included the transcript of the question to Leavitt and her answer.

Schumer’s post had reshared a post by Acyn, an account that shares raw video on politics and is affiliated with the liberal MeidasTouch media company. The video shared by Acyn included the reporter’s full question and Leavitt’s full answer, but it summarized the exchange in a misleading manner, with a caption that read, “Leavitt: At this moment in time, the ballroom is really the president’s main priority.” 

Our ruling

Jeffries wrote, “The Trump administration just declared that erecting a ballroom is the President’s main priority,” rather than issues such as the cost of living and health care.

This twists Leavitt’s words. She was asked about Trump’s top priorities for renovating parts of the White House campus. In that context, she said the top priority is the ballroom, not that the ballroom is Trump’s top priority among every policy.

We rate the statement False.