Karoline Leavitt will step down as White House press secretary, Trump says
Karoline Leavitt will step down as White House press secretary at the end of August, Donald Trump announced.
The US president revealed her departure on social media, saying Leavitt was leaving “so she can spend more time” with her family. The 28-year-old gave birth to a daughter, Viviana, in May, and returned from maternity leave last month.
The departure of Trump’s most prominent spokesperson comes with his approval rating at a historic low as voters express discontent over rising prices and a war in Iran that has no end in sight.
Trump said Leavitt, who became the youngest person to serve as White House press secretary on his return to office in January 2025, “will now be one of my top outside advisors” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Leavitt wrote on X: “The truth is since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I have felt in my heart that I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House Press Secretary – and that is why I have ultimately made the bittersweet decision to depart the White House and embark on a new chapter in my life.”
Leavitt served Trump as a press aide during his first term in the White House. She ran for Congress in 2022 as the Republican nominee for New Hampshire’s first congressional district but lost the race.
She joined Trump’s 2024 campaign and was transition spokeswoman before Trump selected her to be White House press secretary. At 27 she was younger than Ronald Ziegler, who was 29 when he was Richard Nixon’s spokesperson.
A devout Christian, Leavitt, wearing a cross necklace, and her team would hold a short group prayer before she walked into the briefing room to face reporters. The briefings rarely strayed off message or made headlines but did keep factcheckers occupied. For example, her claim that “tariffs are a tax cut for the American people,” was rated false by Politifact.
In a smooth delivery with few verbal stumbles, Leavitt zealously defended the president while berating Democrats and the “fake news” media. In her first appearance on the podium, she described Trump as “the hardest-working man in politics” with “wildly popular” policies responsible for a new “golden age”.
Leavitt was cordial with reporters behind the scenes but could be combative in front of the camera. In January this year, when a journalist raised the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, Leavitt demanded to know why Good had been killed. The reporter answered: “Because an ICE agent acted recklessly and killed her unjustifiably.” Leavitt, jabbing her finger, snapped: “You’re a leftwing hack. You’re not a reporter. You’re posing in the room as a journalist … You shouldn’t even be sitting in that seat.”
Trump often praised Leavitt as an effective communicator and drawing attention to her appearance. He once told the Newsmax network: “She’s become a star. It’s that face, it’s that brain, it’s those lips – the way they move, they move like she’s a machine gun.”
On Wednesday the president’s allies joined the acclaim. Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, tweeted: “Karoline Leavitt has served President Trump and the American people with courage and conviction. She’s a great colleague, a fearless voice for the President’s agenda and a true professional.”
Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, added: “Karoline Leavitt has been the most successful Press Secretary in history. Always strong, clear and right to the point … We are all Karoline Leavitt fans!”
Democrats, however, took a different view. Adam Schiff, a senator for California, posted: “Karoline Leavitt is leaving the White House to spend a little more time … with the truth.”
Trump did not outline plans for who might succeed her. He had four press secretaries during his first term. Sean Spicer is now a political commentator and podcaster; Sarah Huckabee Sanders is now the governor of Arkansas; Stephanie Grisham is now a fierce critic of Trump who spoke at the 2024 Democratic national convention; Kayleigh McEnany is a host on Fox News.
Reporting from The Guardian contributed to this story.
