According to reports from Washington Post on August 12, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will leave the Trump administration at the end of August. This marks one of the most high-profile departures among senior officials since Trump’s second term began, coming less than three months before the midterm elections.
At 28, Leavitt is the youngest White House press secretary in American history and the first to give birth while serving in the role. She has been a loyal adviser to President Donald Trump, playing an extremely prominent role in his efforts to reshape the presidency and undermine public trust in traditional media coverage — including taking tough measures to control which news organizations gain access to the White House.
Trump announced on Truth Social on Wednesday that Leavitt would step down to spend more time with her children. Leavitt gave birth to a daughter in May and also has a two-year-old son. Trump said she will continue to serve as an external adviser going forward.
Trump wrote: “Karoline will become one of my top external advisers and an influential voice within the Republican Party. We will work to break historical patterns and win the midterm elections decisively.”
In a lengthy social media post, Leavitt described the job as “the honor and adventure of a lifetime,” but said she decided to leave the Trump administration after returning to work this summer following her maternity leave.
She wrote: “The truth is, since returning to the White House after my daughter was born, I’ve felt in my heart that if I kept pouring in the time, energy, and focus this role demands, I couldn’t be the best mom my two little kids deserve — and that’s why I ultimately made this bittersweet decision to leave the White House and start a new chapter.”
The White House has not yet announced who will replace Leavitt. Her deputy, Abigail Jackson, also left this month, further complicating staffing arrangements. During Leavitt’s maternity leave, several cabinet secretaries took turns filling in for her at irregular press briefings.
Leavitt first interned at the White House during Trump’s first term. After college, she joined the White House communications team, working under Kayleigh McEnany, Trump’s fourth press secretary. After Trump’s 2020 defeat, she served as communications director for New York Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik. In 2022, at age 25, Leavitt ran for Congress in New Hampshire but lost to Democratic Congressman Chris Pappas. She then began appearing on television representing Trump’s political action committee MAGA Inc. and gradually rose to become the national press secretary for Trump’s campaign.
On July 10, 2024, amid the heat of Trump’s presidential campaign, Leavitt gave birth to her first son. Three days later, Trump was shot in Butler, Pennsylvania, and Leavitt quickly returned to work.
After Trump returned to the White House, Leavitt became widely known for her rapid-fire press briefings, delivering Trump’s message and often sparring with reporters on camera. She also led major overhauls of the White House press briefing room and the presidential press pool system — the rotating group of reporters who cover the president.
In the early days of Trump’s second term, Leavitt invited online influencers and podcast hosts to join the traditional Washington press corps, and at the start of each briefing, she would first call on reporters seated in the “new media” section — seats often given to right-wing online influencers openly supportive of Trump.
The White House also took over the authority to decide which reporters could join the presidential press pool, a job that had been handled by the independent White House Correspondents’ Association for decades. The White House restricted access for wire services like the Associated Press and Reuters while giving more opportunities to pro-Trump media outlets and online influencers.
Leavitt has been one of the most frequent voices defending Trump on cable news, appearing multiple times on Fox News. Monday night, she shared on Instagram that after putting her kids to bed, she went to a news truck in her driveway to join Fox News’ “Hannity” program.
On the show, she attacked Democrats and claimed Trump’s policies made life “more affordable” for Americans — a claim that doesn’t align with the inflation reports released by Trump’s own administration.
In her Wednesday post announcing her departure, Leavitt promised to continue “loudly advocating for MAGA and the Republican Party” in her new role outside the White House.
She wrote: “Our country faces an existential threat from an increasingly radicalized Democratic Party that seeks to destroy everything great about America. I believe all of us who care about this nation have a responsibility to fight back against this threat. My battle is entering a new phase, but it is far from over.”
