New MAGA 'It' girl reveals truth about those viral rumors as Oval Office controversy explodes

By CHARLIE SPIERING, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 13:47, 12 August 2026 | Updated: 13:48, 12 August 2026 The young conservative woman who went viral this week while standing next to Donald Trump in the Oval Office has responded to the rampant rumors about Monday's event that have exploded online. Podcaster and journalist Jayme Leagh Franklin, 26, told the Daily Mail she was invited to the White House event alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy, Jr, to overhaul decades of federal guidance on childhood vaccines. After she arrived in the Oval Office, she was surprised when White House staff asked her to stand next to the president as he spoke. Trump announced new guidance that would recommend splitting up the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three separate shots due to concerns over autism links.  'It looks like the size of a bottle of soda poured into a little child's body, and bad things happen in many cases,' Trump said on Monday.  Eagle-eyed social media users were quick to point out that several times during the announcement, as other health officials spoke, the president appeared to close his eyes and nod off.  But Franklin quickly dismissed those claims, telling the Daily Mail it may have been a camera-angle issue. Trump, accompanied by HHS Secretary RFK Jr and Jayme Leagh Franklin with The Conservateur in the Oval Office Jayme Leagh Franklin stands behind Trump with his eyes closed before he signed an executive order calling for childhood vaccine shots to be spaced out From her point of view, she said, the president was merely looking down toward his desk as officials from his administration spoke, rather than staring directly at the reporters or the cameras.  'I didn't understand that,' she said about the controversy. 'From my perspective, he was looking down. This president is the most active we've ever had, so that narrative is just so fundamentally false.' Franklin revealed that after the event wrapped, she told the president and the audience in the Oval Office that she is pregnant with her second child. She said she is 23 weeks pregnant and due in December. And Trump's announcement hits home for her. She's fully supportive of the new executive order recommending spacing out the number of vaccine shots for children.  Franklin told the Daily Mail that she vaccinated her first daughter on her own schedule and appreciated the president's executive order on vaccines.  'Every child is different, it's really all just about freedom, and so I'm very passionate about that,' Franklin said. 'I think what's really cool about this White House is they try to bring in people who are normal, everyday people to be able to see what they're doing for the American people.' Franklin is a co-host on the Sincerely American podcast and a co-founder of The Conservateur, an online platform for women covering culture, fashion, faith and politics.  Her husband Drake Franklin works for the America First Policy Institute, a think tank staffed with many former Trump administration officials.  Conservative podcaster Jayme Leagh Franklin in the White House briefing room Conservative podcaster Jayme Leagh Franklin and her family with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance  Last year, Franklin attended the White House press briefing in the special New Media seat, created by the administration for rotating podcasters and influencers.   Franklin has also interviewed RFK Jr and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on her podcast. She also attended a White House listening session in April with influential figures in the Make America Healthy Again movement.  Growing up in California, Franklin said she was raised to be very conscious about choices about health and food, calling her mother 'the most passionate MAHA woman you will ever meet.' After her visit to the Oval Office this week, however, people speculated about Franklin's appearance and demeanor on camera, accusing her of acting as a 'robot' by nodding in agreement with the president and health officials as they spoke. 'Is this the first fully autonomous MAGA Robot?' wrote left-wing Executive Director of NewBlueUSA Marty Taylor on X. 'MAGA 2.0 robot is programmed to nod at every word coming out of Trump's mouth.'  Meanwhile, other critics made comments about her placing her hand on her stomach, joking that she was concealing a button to 'wake' the president if he appeared to doze off, nicknaming her 'The Zapper.' In response Tuesday night, Franklin responded on X: 'I'm just pregnant you weirdos.' And she told the Daily Mail that she has taken all the criticism and mockery in stride.   'Being a conservative woman, I've gotten a ton of hate over the years, and I honestly take it as a compliment,' she said. 'I think it means that you're doing great things, and I don't take myself too seriously so I can laugh at stuff.'