A CNN anchor corrected Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett after she parrotted a false claim that President Trump's chief priority is the construction of the new White House Ballroom.
Crocket pivoted from a question about the shutdown to Trump's renovations, attempting to shift the blame. Democrats know they are losing the messaging battle, and yet are still attempting to deflect blame.
“The president has time to do everything but what he needs to focus on," Corckett began. “In fact, we heard the press secretary say his main priority is the ballroom — the ballroom that no one asked for. The ballroom that requires him to destroy historic pieces of the White House.”
CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins interrupted, telling the representative that the comments she had referenced were taken out of context.
“Yeah, and that context of the comment from Karoline Leavitt — she was asked if the president was working on any other renovations when it came to the White House,” she said. “And she was saying his focus was the ballroom.”
Kaitlan Collins actually fact-checked Jasmine Crockett on Trump. Good for her. pic.twitter.com/PWvKgmXLoj
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) October 28, 2025
At an October 23 White House briefing, Leavitt was asked whether President Trump had “any other renovations or significant projects” beyond the new ballroom and Rose Garden patio. She replied, “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.”
Acyn Torabi, a reporter with the progressive outlet MeidasTouch who had asked the question, shared a shortened clip to X, writing, “Leavitt: At this moment in time, the ballroom is really the president’s main priority.”
Democrats jumped on the post, which has received nearly two million views, and tried to make it seem as though Trump's entire focus was on the new ballroom.
That is obviously untrue, as since the government has shut down, President Trump has gone on a diplomatic trip to Asia, negotiated a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, ramped up immigration operations, and still found time to hand out candy to children trick-or-treating at the White House.