Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs Members of the Media, Apr. 8, 2026

April 8, 2026 · The White House · 0:28:37

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

What happened

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt briefed members of the media at the White House on April 8, 2026. She opened with an update from the First Lady: “Yesterday marked the very first conviction under the Take It Down Act,” the legislation she said First Lady Melania Trump played an instrumental role in passing, protecting victims of non-consensual AI-generated imagery, cyberstalking, and threats. Then to the ceasefire announced by the President the night before: “With respect to the two-week ceasefire announced by President Trump last night, this is a victory for the United States of America that the President and our incredible military made happen.”

She laid out the operation’s tally as the administration states it: core military objectives “achieved and exceeded in just 38 days”; more than 13,000 targets struck across Iran, including more than 450 strikes on ballistic missiles and approximately 800 on drone-launching units and storage; Iran’s defense industrial base destroyed; more than 150 naval vessels destroyed, including 16 entire classes of warships; Iran’s submarine force at zero; 97 percent of an inventory of more than 5,000 naval mines targeted and destroyed; Iranian air activity from “30 to 100 flights per day” before the operation to zero; and command-and-control structures “struck more than 2,000 times.” She honored the 13 American service members killed. On the ceasefire itself: “Iran has agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz, and as the President said, we have received a proposal from the Iranians.” She announced the negotiating team — “led by the Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, Special Envoy Witkoff, and Mr. Kushner” — traveling to Islamabad, with the first round Saturday morning local time. For seniors, she cited the working families tax cut: “nearly 90% of seniors will no longer pay tax on their Social Security,” ahead of Tax Week travel to Nevada and Arizona.

Why it matters

The April 8 briefing is the administration’s formal Epic Fury scorecard and its ceasefire terms stated in one sitting — the strike tally, the Hormuz opening, the received proposal, and the named negotiating team — recorded on the Foreign Policy & Defense hub as the reference statement for the talks that followed.

Scoreboard watch

This is a candidate item for the weekly scoreboard: the Epic Fury figures as stated at the briefing (13,000-plus targets, 150-plus vessels, 38 days), the ceasefire and Hormuz-opening terms, and the first conviction under the Take It Down Act, each checkable against Defense Department releases and the ceasefire’s course.

Sources: The White House, “Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs Members of the Media, Apr. 8, 2026,” The White House, April 8, 2026 (official upload, embedded above). All figures and characterizations as stated by Press Secretary Leavitt at the briefing.