Leavitt: Media coverage of Biden caused decline in trust

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt argued Monday that trust in mainstream media outlets has taken a major hit in recent years partly because of news coverage of former President Biden's final days in office and his exit from the 2024 presidential race over concerns about his mental acuity.

"Millions of Americans watched our mentally incompetent president struggle with his day-to-day duties of this office. We watched our country be ran into the ground as a result. And nobody in the media wanted to write about that," Leavitt told reporters. "And I remember being on President Trump's campaign talking about Joe Biden's clear mental incompetence and being accused by people in this room of manufacturing deepfake videos trying to persuade the public into not believing what they saw with their own eyes for many years."

The remarks came in response to a question from the conservative outlet Daily Signal about comments made by Axios journalist Alex Thompson criticizing news outlets over their coverage of Biden.

"Being truth tellers also means telling the truth about ourselves. We, myself included, missed a lot of this story," Thompson said while speaking at the annual White House correspondents’ dinner over the weekend. "President Biden's decline and its cover-up by the people around him is a reminder that every White House, regardless of party, is capable of deception." 

Leavitt on Monday agreed with Thompson's assessment, but she sought to cast blame specifically on news media outlets, rather than Biden's White House.

"I think it's about time the legacy media finally admits that was one of the greatest cover-ups and scandals that ever took place in American history," Leavitt said. "And certainly it did contribute to the decline in the trust that Americans have for the legacy media, which, by the way, is why we've made many changes to this briefing room in this White House."

As questions about Biden's age and mental state grew more intense last year, his White House dismissed them and accused conservative media outlets of playing up his gaffes and other public speaking miscues.

The Wall Street Journal published an extensive story raising concerns about Biden's age and mental state in June, which was ridiculed by top White House aides at the time and sparked accusations of bias against his administration.

After Biden stumbled during a debate with President Trump later the same month, the tone of coverage of his campaign shifted, and inspired The New York Times editorial board, top celebrities and others to call for him to drop out.