Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary and one of the most public-facing officials in the Trump administration, will step down to spend more time with her family, she and President Trump announced on Wednesday.
In a social media post, Mr. Trump said that Ms. Leavitt, who recently returned from maternity leave after giving birth to her second child, would leave at the end of the month to spend time with her young children — a decision that he said “I totally understand and respect.”
He said Ms. Leavitt would become one of his “top” outside advisers and called her “one of the best White House Press Secretaries in the History of the Office.”
Ms. Leavitt’s departure comes at a critical time for the White House, as Mr. Trump faces multiple headwinds, foreign and domestic, and the midterm elections in November, in which he will need to sell policies that Ms. Leavitt was among the most effective at defending.
Mr. Trump said Ms. Leavitt would remain “an influential voice within the Republican Party, as we work to defy History, and conclusively win the Midterm Elections.” He did not name a replacement in his announcement, nor a timeline for naming one.
Ms. Leavitt, 28, the youngest person to assume the role, worked for Mr. Trump in his first term and on his campaign. She said in a post on social media announcing her departure that serving as press secretary over the past year and a half had “been the honor and adventure of a lifetime.”
“Being a mother and welcoming a new baby while working in one of the most demanding jobs in the world has been the most rewarding yet challenging season of my life, to say the least,” Ms. Leavitt continued.
“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.”
She added that she would “always remain a vocal advocate for MAGA and the Republican Party,” and that she would remain on the front lines of the party’s fight against what she called an “existential threat” by Democrats.
“My fight is entering a new phase,” she added, “but it is far from over.”
Mr. Trump cycled through four press secretaries during his first four years in office, and Ms. Leavitt was particularly adept at managing Mr. Trump’s expectations.
After working in the White House as an assistant press secretary and in the Office of Presidential Correspondence during the first Trump administration, Ms. Leavitt ran for Congress in New Hampshire in 2022, winning a Republican primary but failing to unseat a Democratic incumbent. She was also a spokeswoman for Representative Elise Stefanik of New York.
Ms. Leavitt quickly ascended to become one of Mr. Trump’s most loyal allies and fiercest defenders, making a steely debut in January 2025 at the age of 27.
Ms. Leavitt often expressed disdain for mainstream media. She regularly attacked unflattering coverage of Mr. Trump’s policies and often echoed the president’s falsehoods, mirroring his combative style with journalists.
In the briefing room, she fielded rapid-fire questions with information straight from the president’s mouth. She was also a regular in the media stratosphere, particularly conservative television, where she spoke regularly and directly to the American public.
Mr. Trump often gushed about Ms. Leavitt’s job performance, remarking on how her lips “move like a machine gun,” and once vowing that she would “never” be replaced. Mr. Trump proudly looked on last November after he summoned Ms. Leavitt to defend him as he took questions from reporters at a meeting with the Hungarian prime minister at the time, Viktor Orban. After Ms. Leavitt admonished reporters, Mr. Trump boasted that the autocratic leader asked if he could hire her.
Since returning to work in mid-July, Ms. Leavitt has been less of a fixture in the briefing room as she had been before she went on maternity leave in April and welcomed her second child, a girl, in May. During her maternity leave, the briefings dwindled after a spate of high-profile stand-ins, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
When she returned to the lectern in July, Ms. Leavitt kicked off her remarks by saying, “Let’s get back to work.”
Her first question was about how she managed to juggle her high-demanding jobs of working for the president and raising two children.
“I don’t think there is a secret,” she said. “You just have to show up every day and keep going.”
