Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs Members of the Media, Apr. 22, 2025

April 22, 2025 · The White House · 0:29:45

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt briefed members of the media on Apr. 22, 2025, carried on the White House channel. She opened with the White House’s condolences on the death of Pope Francis, said the President had ordered flags flown at half-staff, and confirmed he would travel to Rome for the funeral, departing Friday morning and returning Saturday evening. She also confirmed the dates of the President’s Middle East trip - Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, May 13-16, 2025 - and previewed Thursday’s working visit by Norway’s Prime Minister, the 13th head-of-state visit of the term, as she counted it.

At the border, Leavitt cited CBP figures as she stated them: the lowest Southwest border crossings in history in March, just 54 illegal aliens apprehended in the northern border’s Swanton sector in March - a 95 percent drop from March 2024 - and border catch-and-release down 99.99 percent from the worst Biden month. On trade, she said: “We now have 18 proposals on paper that have been brought to the trade team,” with the full trade team meeting 34 countries that week alone, and noted the Vice President’s announcement of terms of reference for a trade deal with India.

Why it matters

The briefing is the scheduling and scoreboard record for a dense fortnight: the Rome funeral trip, the May Middle East itinerary, and the administration’s first on-record trade-deal pipeline count - 18 written proposals, 34 countries in meetings.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: the Apr. 22, 2025 trade figures as stated at this briefing (18 proposals on paper; trade meetings with 34 countries that week; India terms of reference announced) and the border figures as stated (Swanton sector 54 apprehensions in March, down 95 percent year over year) - flagged for the scoreboard editors; the entry itself remains review-gated.

Sources: The White House, “Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs Members of the Media, Apr. 22, 2025” (YouTube, Apr. 22, 2025) - official description and broadcast transcript as aired.