White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Apparently Told a Reporter "Your Mom"

It's not exactly the most current comeback, but "your mom" was foundational for millennials who were interested in offering sarcastic replies to serious questions. It's rare to see one of those retorts in a more professional setting, though, in part because it's not how you're supposed to treat people you work with.

Recently, though, reports began to circulate that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had replied "your mom" when she was asked a question by a reporter. Here's what we know about whether that's true.

Following the news that President Trump would be meeting with Vladimir Putin in Budapest to discuss bringing an end to the war in Ukraine, some reporters followed up about the choice location. Budapest has a great deal of historical significance for both Ukraine and Russia, and it seems like neither side would consider it neutral. When a reporter from HuffPost asked Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt who chose the location, though, she didn't seem to want to give a serious answer.

“Your mom did," she replied. Her remarks were echoed by White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, who responded with a more succinct, "Your mom."

It's unclear why both of them were so unwilling to answer the question, but Trump and his administration have long had a combative relationship with reporters more generally, and have remade the White House briefing room to include more favorable outlets and exclude less favorable ones.

Even so, the level of antagonism that these comments suggest seems a little unnecessary. It might be in line with the administration's generally trollish approach, but reporters exist to dig for this kind of information. In the end, it probably isn't a huge deal, although it does speak to how little Trump's administration values relationships with reporters from non-favored outlets.

After a ceasefire was agreed upon to end the war in Gaza, Trump has now turned his attention to the war in Ukraine.

“We’re gonna be meeting in Hungary, Viktor Orban is going to be hosting, and it’s going to be really something," Trump said of the summit, per The Daily Beast. It's unclear whether he's aware of the historical significance of Budapest, or whether he would care if he had that information.

The Budapest Memorandum, which was originally signed in 1994, saw Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom all agree to respect the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine, which is, of course, what Putin violated by invading the country. Holding a meeting there to broker peace is obviously a tricky proposition as a result.

“I mean, we have a problem. They don’t get along too well, those two,” Trump told reporters of the relationship between Putin and Zelenskyy. “This is a ― this is a terrible relationship the two of them have, and it’s one of those things.”

Trump is clearly hoping, though, that he'll be able to resolve it.