Ergo, Kraus, who wrote in feedback on her (then personal) Instagram publish that she was too “scared” to go to a press briefing with that shiny new press cross, and in one other blew off a unfavourable commenter by saying she “labored arduous for [Trump’s] marketing campaign,” regardless of touting herself as impartial media. She’s stated that she didn’t vote within the 2024 presidential election, however her causes differ: She was too busy, she was touring, she wished to “stay untethered” to political events, regardless of these “We did it” posts and repeatedly referring to herself as working for each Kennedy and Trump’s campaigns.
In actual fact, FEC paperwork present that Kraus has accepted payment from one among Kennedy’s PACs, American Values 2024. In August 2024, the group’s receipts record a cost to Home Inhabit, categorized underneath subscriptions. The quantity—$1,140—is eyebrow-raising. Moreover, Kraus was previously listed because the “Director of Social Media” on the web site of one other pro-Kennedy PAC Fighting 4 One America—together with her private Gmail tackle included.
Kraus has repeatedly claimed on her social accounts that she didn’t obtain “one greenback” from any of the campaigns. There are guardrails meant to separate the press from the politicians they cowl. For House and Senate press-pass applications, for instance, there are stringent pointers about full-time employment by a information group and guidelines round further employment, particularly as a marketing consultant for a political group. The State Department has comparable restrictions.
“I’ve by no means obtained funding from any political PACs or campaigns,” Kraus instructed VF in an electronic mail.
Should you wanted one other document of Kraus’s coziness with Kennedy and his marketing campaign, look no additional than the 2024 First Amendment lawsuit through which Kraus and Kennedy had been codefendants, making an attempt to sue Meta for censorship.
She’s not even pretending to do the job nicely. One other (initially personal) missive by way of Instagram Story detailed her claiming that she had been given the fallacious tackle for Oliver Stone’s testimony and being “pressured” to take away her heels and sprint throughout blocks across the Capitol to get to the fitting location. On her (once more, then personal) Instagram, she shared her thoughts on Stone’s sunglasses: “Iconic.” Groundbreaking. On her Substack, she transcribed a number of quotes from the testimony, including such journalistic aptitude as “Stone blinked.” What was that Leavitt was saying about stenographers?
She lately misspelled the phrase enemy in a textual content slide of her Tales, declaring that “Secrecy is the Enemey [sic] of Democracy” in très dramatique white-on-black. It’s giving, “One time, she requested me spell orange.”
She posted a photograph of herself at a briefing in her Tales, having apparently lastly mustered up the braveness to attend. A bit white label with “NYT” typed in all-caps black is caught to the spot, proper subsequent to the Easter egg-hued Instax digital camera she toted alongside together with her to the briefing, which she didn’t write about. There she is, guaranteeing that the American folks keep knowledgeable. The facility of media, everybody!
In her very first press briefing back in January, Leavitt declared that “this White Home believes strongly within the First Modification,” then introduced that credential functions for brand spanking new media retailers can be opened up. The URL she shared, whitehouse.gov/newmedia, redirects to a easy, one-page net kind. The fields for first and final identify, electronic mail, cellphone quantity, and zip code are all required, however so is a hyperlink to the applicant’s major social account.
The one elective subject on the shape? “Information Outlet (If Relevant).”
