Why MSNBC Host Nicolle Wallace Has Beef With Karoline Leavitt

It's hardly a secret that Karoline Leavitt is feuding with a ton of journalists (Kaitlan Collins, we're looking at you). As such, it's not exactly surprising that when MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace said something she disagreed with, she had no qualms calling her out in a press conference. That seems to have prompted an icy response from Wallace — and honestly, we're not anticipating any thawing anytime soon. 

Leavitt made it clear she couldn't stand Wallace during a press briefing the day after Donald Trump's joint address to Congress. As a quick refresher, during the evening's proceedings, Trump had made 13-year-old brain cancer survivor (and aspiring police officer) Devarjaye "DJ" Daniel a Secret Service agent. Of course, the president received a lot of backlash, with many complaining of it being a political ploy. However, some — including Leavitt — felt as though Wallace had gone too far with the comments she made. The comments? "I hope he has a long life as a law enforcement officer, but I hope he never has to defend the United States Capitol against Donald Trump's supporters. And if he does, I hope he isn't one of the six who loses his life to suicide," she'd said (via Fox News). Yeah — it was a lot. 

Leavitt wasted no time calling Wallace out in a press briefing the next day. "MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace disgustingly looped in a 13-year-old boy with brain cancer into an attack on the president over January 6th," she slammed (via Fox News). Though Wallace didn't respond directly, that hasn't stopped her from criticizing Leavitt on other matters — and when she did, she conveniently forgot the press secretary's name. 

Nicolle Wallace didn't hold back when criticizing the press secretary on other matters roughly a week later. However, perhaps in direct response to the pointedness of Leavitt's statement, she had a little bit of a Mariah Carey, "I don't know her" moment. 

Wallace's first barb came in response to Leavitt's bold comments about tariffs. As many will know, the press secretary claimed, "Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people." Cue a biting response from the MSNBC anchor. "She's either tragically uninformed or lying. There is no economist that's been tapped to sit in Donald Trump's cabinet who would testify under oath to what she just said ... Simply, the opposite is reality," the MSNBC anchor said. No sugar-coating, there!

As for forgetting Leavitt's name, that came slightly later in the episode, when Wallace referred to her as, "The woman from the podium." Yikes. It's possible that she had a momentary slip remembering, but we also wouldn't be surprised if that lapse came from Wallace struggling to distinguish between Leavitt and her predecessor Kayleigh McEnany, who she was notably also not a fan of. Some may recall the time Wallace got blunt about her run-in with McEnany at an audition for "The View," going as far as referring to her as "Crazy" on "Behind the Table." That said, we also wouldn't rule out the possibility that she was making a point. Either way, it's clear Leavitt and Wallace aren't fans of one another — and we aren't expecting that to change.