As Vice President JD Vance was giving a motivational speech to the Marine Corps Base at Quantico Wednesday afternoon, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was simultaneously pushing back against fallout from key leaders sharing military attack plans with a journalist.
While Leavitt fielded multiple questions about The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg being inadvertently added to a Signal group chat where top Trump administration officials discussed plans to attack Houthi terrorists in Yemen, Vance did not address the situation during his nearly 10-minute speech.
Among the top leaders in the chat were Vance, national security adviser Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, among others.
At most, Vance mentioned that his speech was delayed by two hours as he met with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
“The reason I was a little bit late is because I was in the Oval Office talking to the president, and I stood up and I said, ‘Sir, I know we’re in the middle of something, but the Marines at Quantico are waiting on me,’” Vance told the crowd of Marines at the base in Virginia.
“And he said, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize that. You gotta get out of here,’” Vance continued. “And I said, ‘Do you have a message you want me to deliver?’ The President of the United States said he wanted me to tell you two things: first of all that he loves you, and second of all that he’s proud of you.”
The vice president also championed the Marines for meeting recruiting goals, touted more than $1 trillion in building up manufacturing to help give the Marines better weapons, and praised the ending of diversity training.
“We believe the real strength and the real diversity in the United States Marine Corps is that you all come from every walk of life. Come from every corner of America, and you have got the strength and the purpose to win the nation’s wars,” said Vance. “And that is what the Marine Corps is going to do, just like it’s done for damn near 250 years now.”
Back at the White House, Leavitt at first delayed the press briefing, which was scheduled to start at 1 p.m. ET, until after Vance’s remarks were delivered. Leavitt then unexpectedly began the briefing before the vice president arrived in Quantico and ended it shortly after.
“Speaking of the vice president, I understand he’s going to be speaking any moment now. I would hate to counter-program the vice president of the United States,” Leavitt said as she concluded her remarks.
Leavitt faced questions from reporters during Wednesday’s press briefing about Goldberg publishing the chat messages after the administration claimed no classified information was shared and whether any Trump administration leader, such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, would lose their job.
“The president’s view on all of this remains the same today as it did yesterday,” said Leavitt at first before repeating it in response to more questioning.
She did, however, sidestep any questions about whether anyone would be fired.
“What I can say definitively is what I just spoke to the president about, and he continues to have confidence in his national security team,” said Leavitt.
Leavitt also claimed that any reporting that special envoy Steve Witkoff used Signal on his personal device was “absolutely false.”
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency will help investigate how Goldberg was added to the group chat.
“The National Security Council, the White House Counsel’s Office, and also, yes, Elon Musk’s team,” said Leavitt, explaining which teams would take the lead on the investigation. “Elon Musk has offered to put his technical experts on this to figure out how this number was inadvertently added to the chat.”
Vance also stopped at a shooting range, where he fired five different weapons, for about 40 minutes during the Quantico visit.
“Wow,” Vance was heard saying after firing the shots.
A Vance spokesperson told reporters that Marines at Quantico made a patch for his helmet that read, “THE CORPORAL OF MARINES.”
The vice president’s shooting skills led one post on X to mock that “Tim Walz could never,” in reference to the former Democratic vice presidential candidate who returned to his role as Minnesota governor.
Another X user called Vance “bada**“
