Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs Members of the Media, Mar. 17, 2025

March 17, 2025 · The White House · 0:31:47

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What happened

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt briefed members of the media at the White House on Mar. 17, 2025, carried on the White House channel. She opened with the weekend’s tornadoes and storms across the South and Midwest - more than 40 lives lost, as she stated it - and said the President was monitoring the situation and was fully prepared to assist state and local officials in the recovery.

Leavitt then reported that President Trump had ordered decisive military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen, who she said had engaged in piracy, violence, and terrorism against American ships for years, and that no terrorist force would stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing. She also reported that the President had signed a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act regarding the invasion of the United States by the foreign terrorist organization Tren de Aragua, and that the Department of Homeland Security had carried out a counter-terrorism operation deporting nearly 200 violent Tren de Aragua terrorists to El Salvador, as she stated it.

Why it matters

The briefing is the administration’s first podium account of two signature second-term actions taken the same weekend: the opening strikes on the Houthis and the first Alien Enemies Act deportation operation, each stated on the record with its legal basis and destination country.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: the Houthi strikes ordered that weekend and the nearly 200 Tren de Aragua deportations to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, as stated at this briefing - flagged for the scoreboard editors; the entry itself remains review-gated.

Sources: The White House, “Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs Members of the Media, Mar. 17, 2025” (YouTube, 2025-03-17) - official description and broadcast transcript as aired.