White House avoids saying if Trump agrees with Vance criticism of Israel’s reported MAGA influence campaign

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is asked whether US President Donald Trump agrees with Vice President JD Vance’s assertion yesterday that Israeli-backed actors are trying to undermine US negotiations with Iran.

“The president would certainly agree that foreign countries certainly try to persuade American public opinion. There’s no doubt about that. I think it’s just a basic fact,” she says, avoiding answering the question directly, and apparently teasing the speech Trump will be giving tonight about purported election interference.

Leavitt is also asked about Vance’s comments in the same Joe Rogan interview in which he defended the diplomatic engagements with Iran, even as Trump has continued to call its leaders crazy.

“The president and vice president are on the exact same page,” Leavitt says.

According to Leavitt, the latest US strikes were launched because Tehran violated the memorandum of understanding reached with Washington by attacking commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

“President Trump is not going to sit by and allow these acts of terrorism to take place in the Strait without ensuring Iran pays consequences for that.”

She stresses that Trump remains open to diplomacy while insisting that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon.