Kaitlan Collins fires nasty barb at Karoline Leavitt at first press briefing

CNN's Kaitlan Collins accused Donald Trump's administration of violating the law during a fiery exchange with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

During Tuesday's conference at the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, Collins grilled Leavitt about President Trump's controversial purge in firing 17 inspector generals and accused the White House of not following the law.

She questioned how the administration is 'deciding which laws to follow and which ones to ignore?'

In her very first press conference as the youngest named Press Secretary in history at age 27, Leavitt defended Trump, arguing that he had the power and authority to make that call.

'He is the executive of the executive branch and therefore he has the power to fire anyone within the executive branch that he wishes to,' Leavitt said in defense.

Trump fired more than a dozen inspector generals in a purge of government watchdogs that immediately sparked concern on Capitol Hill on Friday evening.

The White House failed to publicly announce the bloodbath or provide any explanation for why those officials, who are tasked with evaluating federal departments on issues including the law and use of taxpayer money, were abruptly let go.

Among them were inspector generals for the departments of defense, state, transportation, veterans affairs, housing and urban development, interior and energy.

Each government watchdog received an email late Friday evening informing them that their employment was being terminated immediately. 

The move sparked criticism from both Republican and Democrat lawmakers who believe the president may have broken a federal law requiring Congress to be given a 30-day notice of such firings.

Collins fired off these concerns to Leavitt at Tuesday's conference, reiterating the administration's failure to notify Congress within the legal time frame.

'I think only two were left at the DHS and the DOJ, and yesterday we saw several prosecutors were fired from the Justice Department, who worked on the investigations into the president,' Collins said 

'As you know, they are career prosecutors, therefore they are afforded civil service protections,' she added. 

'How is the administration deciding which laws to follow and which ones to ignore?' 

Leavitt snapped back, arguing that it is the 'belief of the White House and the White House counsel's office that the president was within his executive authority to do that.'

'He is the executive of the executive branch and therefore he has the power to fire anywhere within the executive branch that he wishes to,' Leavitt responded. 

The White House Press Secretary proceeded to tell Collins to look into Scalia Law LLC vs. the Bureau Protection, a case that went before the Supreme Court in 2020. 

The case examined the extent of the president's appointment and removal powers and the decision ultimately expanded the president's ability to remove the director of The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to BallotPedia.

Leavitt said that that specific case was the legality that the White House has rested on in regards to Trump's decision. 

Collins also suggested that Trump may have had some kind of personal vendetta against certain prosecutors, especially the ones who worked on investigations into him.

'So you're confident that if they bring lawsuits against you, the prosecutors who were fired, that you will succeed?' Collins asked Leavitt.

'We will in court, yes,' Leavitt responded.

'And did he personally direct this, given they worked on the classified documents investigation and the election interference investigation,' Collins added on.

Leavitt responded: 'This was a memo that went out by the presidential office and the president is the leader of this White House, so yes.'

Although Trump's abrupt move was not entirely without precedent, it is rare for presidents to target the watchdog system that was created in 1978 under Jimmy Carter. 

Inspector generals can be removed by the president or the agency head, depending on who nominated or appointed them.

While the politically-appointed leaders of agencies and departments come and go with each administration, an IG can stay and serve under multiple presidents.

Following the decision, Senator Elizabeth Warren posted on X: 'It’s a purge of independent watchdogs in the middle of the night.

'Inspectors general are charged with rooting out government waste, fraud, abuse, and preventing misconduct.

'President Trump is dismantling checks on his power and paving the way for widespread corruption.'

Most of those dismissed were appointees from Trump's 2017-2021 first term.

Leavitt stunned the briefing room in a gorgeous, berry-colored two-piece suit with a belted back that appeared to be from Zara ahead of her highly-anticipated first conference on Tuesday. 

No one could remember the James S. Brady briefing room so packed, making the stakes of Leavitt's first briefing extremely high. 

However, her first appearance was proof that a new MAGA star has seemingly been born. 

Ramping up the pressure, the most important member of her live nationwide audience - the president himself - was watching closely on TV. 

During the conference, the 27-year-old who made history scolded traditional media for 'losing trust' and said millions of Americans are instead looking to other outlets for their news. 

'We know for a fact that there have been lies that have been pushed by many legacy media outlets in the country about this president, about his family and we will not accept that,' she stated. 

'We will call you out when we feel your reporting is wrong or there is misinformation about this White House.'  

Throughout the briefing Leavitt called on reporters from a variety of outlets - including the AP, which got the third question, Collins, NBC's Peter Alexander, as well as the Daily Caller's White House correspondent Reagan Reese - who was seated in the back row of the briefing room.

At the top she made some news - explaining that the mysterious drones spotted flying over New Jersey were authorized to conduct 'research' and didn't represent a foreign threat.

She also showed off photographs of illegal immigrants who had been deported and what previous crimes the White House said they committed.

Asked later about the Trump administration's deportation strategy, she said that every immigrant in the country illegally was a criminal.

Leavitt also insulted Biden when she was asked about egg prices - as the avian flu is forcing farmers to kill millions of chickens. 

Trump's chief campaign promise was to bring down food and fuel prices, with American voters upset with Biden and the eventual Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, for inflation in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era. 

She ultimately blamed the higher costs on the 'inflationary policies of the last administration.' 

Under the sustained assault from the media, Leavitt calmly dispatched dozens of questions and went on to hit every big MAGA note, declaring that 'sanity has been restored,' and that 'Trump is everywhere again.'