WATCH: Leavitt questions whether Gov. Walz’s offer to talk to Trump is ‘real’

White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt said Thursday she was “not sure” whether Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s calls to speak with President Donald Trump directly about the unrest in Minnesota were a “real show.”

Watch Levitt’s remarks in the video player above.

Her answer came in response to a question from PBS News White House correspondent Liz Landers about Walz’s attempts to reach the president, and why the two leaders did not speak if there was a desire to de-escalate the clashes between Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and protesters.

Read more: Trump threatens to use the Insurrection Act to quell protests in Minneapolis

Levitt noted that until 30 minutes before Thursday’s White House news conference, Trump had not spoken with Walz. The Minnesota governor was the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, running with Kamala Harris against Trump and J.D. Vance.

“The president is always ready to answer the phone when people call him,” Leavitt said. “When another tragic shooting occurred several months ago in Governor Walz’s state, he spoke directly with the governor. But I am asking the governor to stop inciting harassment and unlawful obstruction of law enforcement in his state.”

Leavitt said ICE agents are trying to remove “criminal illegal aliens” from the state.

“[The governor] “He should pick up the phone, and he should say that he will cooperate with this president and with the federal government in making Minnesota safer because that is all President Trump and his administration wants to do,” Leavitt said.

Protests in Minnesota were launched in response to the federal government’s deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. It grew after an agency official shot and killed 37-year-old Rene Goode last week.