“Who suggested Budapest as a meeting place between Trump and Putin?” the Huffington Post correspondent asked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt via text message. With this question, our colleague was seeking to determine whether Trump fully understood the sensitive choice Budapest represented. It was in the Hungarian capital, in 1994, that Russia pledged not to invade Ukraine. The press secretary responded very curtly, as can be seen in a screenshot shared by the latter on X.

“Is the president aware of the symbolism surrounding Budapest? In 1994, Russia promised in Budapest that it would not invade Ukraine if it gave up the nuclear weapons it inherited after the fall of the Soviet Union. Doesn’t he understand why Ukraine would oppose this location? Who suggested Budapest? Thank you,” HuffPost White House correspondent SV Dáte wrote to Karoline Leavitt on October 16. The press secretary immediately responded, “Your mother did.” The reporter responded by asking if she found his response “funny,” and Leavitt then called him a “far-left idiot.”

“It’s funny that you call yourself a journalist. You’re a far-left idiot. No one takes you seriously, not even your media colleagues, they never say it to your face. Stop sending me your biased and bogus questions,” the White House spokeswoman replied.

On October 17, SV Dáte reported on Karoline Leavitt's response, which garnered national attention. Two other officials, including White House communications director Steven Cheung, reportedly gave the same response to the question.

Karoline Leavitt defended herself by sharing a screenshot of the text message conversation to show her “full response” to the journalist’s question and “contextualize” it. She again accused the Huffington Post correspondent of being a “far-left villain.”

According to her, SV Dáte “is not a journalist interested in facts” and “regularly floods her phone with democratic topics.”

HuffPost called this reaction "childish" and pointed out that Karoline Leavitt had still not responded to the initial question. SV Dáte, a veteran journalist of more than thirty years, has worked for the Associated Press and other American media outlets.

The Pentagon too

Asked about the tie—a nod, for some, to the Russian flag—worn by the Secretary of Defense during the Ukrainian president's recent visit to Washington, a Pentagon spokesperson reportedly also used the same expression. A controversial tie that has earned Pete Hegseth praise from Russian officials and media. “Your mother bought it for him, and it's an American patriotic tie, idiot,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said.