Karoline Leavitt, the youngest person ever to serve as White House press secretary, will leave the Trump administration at the end of August, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday. Leavitt, 28, said the decision was driven by the demands of motherhood, describing it as "bittersweet" in a social media post that confirmed her departure. She had recently returned to the briefing room podium following the birth of her second child, a daughter named Viviana, in May. She also has a two-year-old son.
"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," Leavitt wrote. Trump said he fully understood and respected the decision, posting on Truth Social that she had been "one of the best Press Secretaries in the history of the position." He added that she would continue in his orbit as one of his "top outside advisors" and an "influential voice within the Republican Party" ahead of the midterm elections.
Leavitt came to the role with a background rooted in the Trump political world. She served as a press aide during Trump's first term before becoming communications director for New York Republican Representative Elise Stefanik and later working as a spokesperson for MAGA Inc., a pro-Trump super PAC. In 2022, she ran for Congress in New Hampshire, winning a competitive Republican primary before losing the general election to the incumbent Democratic Representative Chris Pappas. She was 27 when she assumed the press secretary role at the start of Trump's second term.
Her tenure was marked by a combative relationship with much of the mainstream press. Early in her time in the role, her office stripped organisational duties from the White House Correspondents' Association and initially barred the Associated Press over its refusal to use the term "Gulf of America." She briefed from the press room less frequently than several of her recent predecessors, with Trump preferring to deploy her primarily on Fox News and other conservative outlets. Among Trump's supporters, she was widely praised for forcefully defending the president's agenda. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller called her a "close friend" and "role model," saying, "Her story is just beginning."
No successor has been named. During Leavitt's roughly seven-week maternity leave earlier this year, a rotating cast of senior officials — including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Interior Secretary Doug Bergum — took the podium. Leavitt is the second-longest-serving press secretary across either of Trump's administrations, following only Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Her departure is also the latest in a series of high-profile exits from the current administration this year, underlining ongoing personnel turnover in a White House that has seen significant reshuffling since Trump's return to office.