Watch: White House press secretary calls Irish journalist ‘left-wing hack’

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called an Irish journalist a “left-wing hack” during a heated exchange at a press briefing yesterday.

Niall Stanage, who works for US political newspaper The Hill, asked a question about the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent on 7 January.

When asked for his assessment of the incident, Mr Stanage described the ICE officers’ actions as “reckless,” prompting a sharp response from the press secretary.

“You’re a biased reporter with a left-wing opinion,” Ms Leavitt said, accusing Mr Stanage and much of the American media of biased coverage on immigration enforcement issues.

When Mr Stanage mentioned that 32 people had died in ICE custody in 2025, Ms Leavitt responded by questioning his credentials as a journalist.

“You’re not a reporter, you’re posing in this room as a journalist,” she said. “You’re pretending like you’re a journalist but you’re a left-wing activist.”

“Yeah, because you’re a left-wing hack, you’re not a reporter, you’re posing in this room as a journalist and it’s so clear by the premise of your question.

“And you and the people in the media who have such biases but fake like you’re a journalist, you shouldn’t even be sitting in that seat. But you’re pretending like you’re a journalist but you’re a left-wing activist,” she said.