AN AMERICAN INFLUENCER has come under fire for an interview she conducted with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on her TikTok page and in an episode of her podcast.

Kate Mackz, an influencer known for her running videos in which she typically meets with other influencers and public figures and asks them questions while they complete a run, interviewed Leavitt in a video posted earlier this week.

Mackz has close to 800,000 followers on TikTok, and almost 200,000 on Instagram.

Within the video, Leavitt shows Mackz around the White House grounds, the White House press briefing room, as well as her press office within the building. Mackz chats to Leavitt about her role within the Trump administration. 

Leavitt had previously began working in the White House as an intern during Trump’s last term. Now, the 27-year-old has been made the head of press and communications within the administration.

Inside Leavitt’s office, the press secretary points out a meme she has pinned to her corkboard that shows an image of a man holding his hand up in refusal at a brain being offered to him, saying ‘No thanks. I won’t be needing that. I believe everything the legacy media shows’.

“So look, we want critical thinking around here,” Leavitt says. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a briefing at the White House in Washington, DC. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Mackz captioned the video, “From being at the White House last year speaking on a mental health panel and meeting President Biden, to being back again this year – [Karoline Leavitt] – thank you for having us. Truly surreal to walk through a place with so much history and meaning.”

Mackz previously conducted one of her running videos with senator Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s running mate in presidential election. 

Walz’s daughter Hope posted a video criticising Mackz for her platforming of Leavitt. 

Speaking on how she was raised to view running as a “privilege”, Hope Walz said, “I don’t really understand how platforming an administration that cuts mental health services, cuts funding and shipments to food banks, is hurting the climate, sending people away without due process, villainising minorities… all those things are preventing people from getting into the running community, which is what I thought Kate’s platform was for.”

She continued to say that she wasn’t telling anyone how to run their social media page, but that it was “insulting” to her father Tim Walz to leave the video that Mackz had made with him pinned on the top of her page. 

“You don’t get to both sides this. It’s not both sides.”

Walz said that she had met Mackz when she had filmed the video with Tim Walz in the lead-up to the election, and that she was “very impressed” with her at the time. 

“This is just extremely disappointing.”

The Trump administration has utilised influencers in the past to promote its ideals to younger audiences. During Trump’s campaign, he had influencer Bryce Hall speak at a rally.

Leavitt has also begun holding “influencer briefings” at the White House press briefing room, where she answers questions from a small group of carefully chosen influencers. 

In one video taken during the first official influencer briefing, one influencer said, “I can attest to the deportations in Florida – my Uber drivers finally speak English again. So thank you for that.”

Despite the onslaught of backlash aimed at the influencer, others have issued praise for Mackz having conducted a civil conversation with Leavitt.