Karoline Leavitt's Blame Game Targets Biden After Republican Midterm Losses as Inflation Claims Face Scrutiny

Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt blamed Biden-era economic policies for voters' inflation worries during a Fox News interview on Saturday, 7 November 2026, even though official US inflation data paints a more mixed picture of Donald Trump's economic record.

Her remarks came after Republican defeats in the midterm elections, in which Democrats secured control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 3 November vote, according to the Associated Press.

The new Democratic majorities are not due to be sworn in until 3 January 2027, leaving Republicans in charge of the current Congress until that date.

Karoline Leavitt Renews Bid To PIN Inflation on Biden

Appearing on My View with Lara Trump, Leavitt, 29, attributed the economic pressures facing voters to the previous Democratic administration.

'I think the number one issue for voters was affordability, prices and inflation,' she told host Lara Trump. Leavitt argued that the president had inherited an inflation crisis and contrasted a rate of about 9 per cent during Biden's presidency with 3 per cent under Trump.

Her figures refer to real inflation readings, but their timing changes the picture. Annual US inflation peaked at 9.1 per cent in June 2022, when Biden was president. It had fallen substantially long before Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, annual inflation stood at 2.9 per cent in December 2024, the final full calendar month of Biden's presidency. January 2025's reading was 3 per cent, covering a period overlapping the two administrations.

The latest available Consumer Price Index figures, covering September 2026, put annual inflation at 3.7 per cent. That exceeds the rate around Trump's inauguration. Most of the decline from the 2022 peak occurred before his second presidency.

Neither falling inflation nor a lower annual rate necessarily means prices are returning to previous levels. Unless prices actually decline, households continue paying more, even if the pace of increases slows.

Trump's Affordability Message Faces a Political Test

Leavitt urged Republicans to 'stay focused on the economy, on the price of living,' expressing confidence that the party's policies would eventually improve affordability.

Her assessment highlighted an issue Trump had publicly played down during the campaign. As the Associated Press reported, he described the word 'affordability' as 'a con job by the Democrats'. That criticism of the term contrasts with Leavitt's argument that living costs were voters' leading concern.

Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law through her marriage to Eric Trump, made a similar case on Fox & Friends on Thursday, 5 November. She suggested voters had not given Republican policies enough time to show results.

'The way this president has set things up will not take effect immediately,' she said, arguing that repairing what she regarded as damage from Biden-era policies would require more time.

Leavitt is now making that argument from a different platform. She left the White House on 27 August and joined Fox News as a contributor on 1 November.

Asked about her successor, she said 'a lot of qualified people' were interested in the position. She did not name UFC chief Dana White, whom Trump publicly offered the job on Saturday following Katie Zacharia's five-day tenure. White said he planned to meet Trump on Monday, leaving the appointment unresolved.