White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday (November 12, 2025) accused Democrats of plunging the United States into the most extended government shutdown in history for “pure partisan politics,”saying the 43-day stalemate inflicted billions of dollars in economic damage and hurt families across the country.

“The damage caused by the Democrats with this reckless government shutdown cannot be forgotten. It is entirely the fault of the Democrat Party,” Ms. Leavitt told reporters from the podium of the White House Briefing Room.

The press secretary said President Donald Trump was “very hopeful” the standoff would end within hours as lawmakers voted on a clean continuing resolution (CR) to reopen the government.

‘The Longest Shutdown in U.S. History’

Ms. Leavitt laid out a grim tally of the shutdown’s effects — hundreds of thousands of unpaid federal workers, millions of delayed food assistance payments, and airports crippled by staff shortages.

“Nearly 20,000 flights at airports across the country were delayed due to staffing shortages, causing Americans to miss family events, vacations and work obligations,” she said. “According to Airlines for America, an estimated 5.2 million travellers have had their flights disrupted over the course of the Democrat shutdown.”

Citing Congressional Budget Office data, she warned the closure could shave two percentage points off fourth-quarter GDP growth, while “crushing the travel and hospitality industries” and hurting consumer sentiment.

“It’s hard to recap all of this without asking a simple question — why?” she said. “Why have the Democrats put the American people through this pain for 43 days in a row?”

A ‘Reckless Demand’ on Healthcare

Ms. Leavitt said the shutdown began with what she called a “ridiculous demand” from Democrats to fund health care benefits for undocumented immigrants — a proposal Republicans flatly rejected.

“They started this shutdown to force taxpayer-funded health care benefits for illegal aliens who broke into our country,” she said. “Even after it was clear President Trump and Republicans would never force American taxpayers to pay for free health care for illegals, the Democrats kept dragging this reckless shutdown on for weeks.”

She claimed the Democratic strategy was motivated by election-year politics, arguing that the party was “totally captured by its far-left wing base.”

Economic and Political Fallout

The White House asserted that the shutdown delayed critical economic data from the Bureau of Labour Statistics and other agencies, complicating the Federal Reserve’s decisions on interest rates.

“The Democrats may have permanently damaged the federal statistical system with October CPI and jobs reports likely never being released,” Ms. Leavitt said. “That leaves our policymakers at the Fed flying blind at a critical period.”

She contrasted the stalemate with Mr. Trump’s “clean CR,” which she said the administration had supported “from day one.”

“Our troops, air traffic controllers and federal employees will be back to receiving their regular paychecks,” Ms. Leavitt said. “Families in need will get back to receiving their food assistance, and the people’s government will soon be back open for business.”

The press secretary’s sharp rhetoric underscored how the shutdown had become a campaign flashpoint for Trump’s White House, which sought to turn public frustration into a political advantage.

“The Democrat shutdown was nothing more than a political stunt,” Ms. Leavitt said. “President Trump is ending it so Americans can get back to work and our economy can keep thriving.”

As she spoke, House Republicans moved to pass a stopgap funding bill that would allow Trump to sign legislation reopening the government the same night.

This article is published in an arrangement with 5WH.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday (August 19, 2025) said that U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed sanctions on India to bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.

“The President has put tremendous public pressure to bring this war to a close. He has taken actions as you seen sanctions on India and other actions as well. He has made himself very clear that he wants to see this war end,” she added.

Earlier, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday (August 19, 2025) accused India of “profiteering” by reselling Russian oil while sparing China for the same, saying it has “diversified inputs of their oil.”

The remarks came amid strain in India-U.S. relations after Mr. Trump imposed tariffs totalling 50% on India. This includes 25% for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil that will come into effect from August 27.

Also read: 50% tariffs on Indian exports to the U.S. will reduce demand ‘very substantially’: Moody’s Analytics

While replying to a question on CNBC on the different treatment of China and India for purchasing Russian oil, Mr. Bessent said China’s oil imports from Russia have increased only 3% post the Russia-Ukraine war, while India’s oil imports from Russia have increased over 40%.

“China’s importing (Russian oil) is suboptimal. If you go back and look pre- 2022, pre-invasion (of Ukraine by Russia), 13% of China’s oil was already coming from Russia; now it’s 16%, so China has diversified inputs of their oil,” said Mr. Bessent.

Mr. Bessent added that “less than one per cent” of Indian oil was coming from Russia pre-invasion “and now I believe it’s up to 42%”.

“India is just profiteering; they are reselling… They made 16 billion in excess profits… some of the richest families in India. This is a completely different thing,” added Bessent. He further said that this “Indian arbitrage, buying cheap oil and reselling it as a product, has just sprung up during the war… is just unacceptable.”

Mr. Bessent made similar comments last week ahead of the Trump-Putin meeting. In an interview with Bloomberg, he said if “things don’t go well” between Trump and Putin at the summit meeting, then secondary sanctions on India for purchasing Russian oil could go up.

India has called the tariffs “unjustified and unreasonable”.

Trump ended India-Pakistan conflict, says White House

The White House claimed that Mr. Trump has ended the military conflict between India and Pakistan.

“The President is using the might of American strength to demand that respect from our allies, our friends, and our adversaries all around the world,” Ms. Leavitt said at a press briefing.

She said that it was seen not only in the progress with Russia and Ukraine but also “in the closing of seven global conflicts around the world”.

“We’ve seen it with the end of the conflict between India and Pakistan, which could have resulted in a nuclear war if we had not had a President who believed in the strength and the leverage that comes with the job of being the President of the United States of America,” Ms. Leavitt said.

In an answer to another question, Ms. Leavitt said that Mr. Trump used trade “in a very powerful way as leverage” to bring the India-Pakistan conflict to an end.

Also read: Trump ended conflicts including India-Pakistan, should get Nobel Peace Prize: White House Press Secretary

Since May 10, when Mr. Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 40 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.

India has been consistently maintaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said in Parliament that no leader of any country asked India to stop Operation Sindoor.