Geraldo Rivera, the octogenarian former Fox News journalist and veteran television figure, caught many off guard on March 25, 2026, when he used X to deliver an unprompted public endorsement of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“Karoline Leavitt is a terrific White House press secretary, and spokesperson for the president, measured, controlled, informed, competent,” Rivera posted. “Whether you’re right or left, Republican or Democrat you have to appreciate competence and loyalty.”
The message sparked surprise — not just because Rivera provided it seemingly without any provocation, but because the seasoned broadcaster has devoted much of the previous year to openly disagreeing with the Trump administration on multiple important matters. His abrupt commendation of one of the administration’s most visible representatives appeared to many as a dramatic reversal.
The backing is especially remarkable considering what Rivera was expressing just sixty days prior. In January 2026, when additional mobile phone video surfaced in the deadly Minneapolis ICE shooting of Renee Nicole Good, Rivera positioned himself squarely against the administration’s stance. While Leavitt utilized social media to proclaim “President Trump was right again” and requested The New York Times revise its coverage, Rivera shared a forcefully worded counter-statement.
“I love cops, but they sometimes **** up,” Rivera wrote on X at the time. “The killing of Renee Good was entirely unnecessary. Two middle-aged ladies, talking smack were not the one with a loaded handgun, and a hair trigger. They did not escalate this deadly confrontation that led to the death of this mother of three young children. This is on ICE.”
The difference between that January message and his March praise of Leavitt could not be sharper. In one instance, Rivera was openly challenging the White House narrative. In the next, he was celebrating the individual presenting that narrative daily from the press room lectern.
Rivera’s conflicted history with the Trump administration extends even earlier. In February 2026, Leavitt personally referenced Rivera’s name during a press conference — not as a friend, but as a case study of someone who had incorrectly labeled the president as racist, highlighting his characterization of Trump’s immigration enforcement as “racist government policy.” At that moment, Rivera was decisively on Leavitt’s roster of detractors, not admirers.
What shifted? Rivera has not provided any justification for the change. Some commentators have highlighted personal similarities between the pair. Rivera, currently 82, is wed to his fifth spouse, Erica Levy, who is 31 years younger than him. Leavitt, 27, is wed to a man 30 years older than her. Whether that shared characteristic influenced Rivera’s favorable sentiments is entirely conjecture, but social media users took notice.
What cannot be disputed is that Rivera has historically held an uncommon position in American journalism — a self-identified liberal who moved progressively rightward throughout his Fox News tenure, a former Trump associate who sometimes challenged him openly, and a commentator who has grown increasingly hard to classify. His March 25 message aligns with that trend. It was not a complete embrace of the administration, but admiration for the individual — and in today’s media environment, the distinction between the two can be narrow.
Leavitt, on her end, has not openly acknowledged Rivera’s endorsement. She has faced no lack of other matters to address, including persistent disputes over the administration’s Iran military operations, clashes with the journalism community, and a distinct social media controversy regarding a White House photograph she allegedly attempted to have deleted from wire service collections.
Rivera’s message attracted considerable notice on the internet, with numerous media professionals challenging his reasoning. For someone who previously took pride in confronting authority, praising the administration’s primary spokesperson — unprompted, and unconditionally — was an action that left even some of his allies wondering the identical thing: who asked him?