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Leavitt defends White House ballroom after Obama's restaurant comparison

Fox News adds Karoline Leavitt's response to the renovation dispute in a broadcast focused largely on Trump's final midterm campaign stops.

Channel:

Fox News Story of October 29, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? One of Fox News's most watched videos since yesterday, with 639,777 views.

Leavitt FIRES BACK at Obama's ballroom jab

Things we can learn from the video

Press to jump

1:52Lucas Tomlinson reports from Corpus Christi and describes the Paxton-Talarico Senate contest as a dead heat.
4:20Leavitt argues that turning out Trump's voters is central to Republican chances.
6:30Hemmer displays ten states that Fox identifies as battlegrounds for Senate control.
8:29A Harris grocery-price clip prompts Leavitt to criticize her inflation record.
10:05The ballroom discussion begins with Bessent's response to Obama's Cheesecake Factory comparison.
11:23Leavitt says the renovation dispute is about Democrats not appreciating beauty, rather than money.

Karoline Leavitt says Barack Obama's comparison of White House renovations to The Cheesecake Factory reflects Democrats' inability to appreciate beauty. Her response comes near the end of a Fox News segment that spends most of its running time on the approaching midterm elections.

"Look, this is not about the Cheesecake Factory or money, this is about the Democrats not being able to appreciate beauty," the former White House press secretary tells America's Newsroom anchors Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino.

The segment adds another Republican response to Obama's restaurant comparison: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent criticizes Obama's museum project in street-interview footage before Leavitt broadens the discussion into criticism of conditions in Democratic-run cities.

Before reaching the ballroom exchange, Fox correspondent Lucas Tomlinson reports from Corpus Christi, Texas, ahead of Trump's scheduled appearances for Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton. Tomlinson describes Paxton's contest against Democrat James Talarico as a dead heat.

Leavitt argues that Republican prospects depend on getting Trump's supporters to vote. The anchors also examine a Senate battleground map and play a clip of Kamala Harris telling a voter that grocery prices are on the ballot; Leavitt responds by criticizing Harris's inflation record.

The ballroom discussion advertised in the video's title begins just after the ten-minute mark, with Leavitt's direct answer arriving later in that closing exchange.