White House Press Secretary Defends DOGE Leadership Amid Media Scrutiny

During a recent press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized reporters who sought further details on the acting administrator of Elon Musk’s DOGE agency. Leavitt defended her decision to withhold certain specifics, stating that both career officials and political appointees work at DOGE, and she declined to reveal the administrator’s identity directly from the podium, asserting that the White House had maintained transparency on the agency’s operations.

It was later disclosed that Amy Gleason, formerly affiliated with the U.S. Digital Service as a senior adviser, had been named the acting administrator of DOGE. This announcement came as a surprise, particularly as legal and judicial challenges had been mounting over attempts to dismantle aspects of the federal bureaucracy, and questions arose when it was reported that Gleason was in Mexico at the time of her appointment.

At a subsequent press event outside the White House, reporters pressed for more information regarding when Gleason began her role and the extent of internal awareness about her appointment. In response, Leavitt downplayed the inquiries by emphasizing Gleason’s long-standing career as a federal official and countered the media’s focus on her identity by criticizing what she called an overzealous pursuit of trivial details.

Leavitt further reiterated that many federal employees work diligently in their positions and deserve a degree of privacy. She rebuffed further questions by stating that the matter had been communicated clearly within the agency, and she expressed exasperation with the press, arguing that there were more significant issues at hand than the identity of the DOGE administrator.