White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt to step down

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will leave the administration at the end of the month after having served in the role since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term.

Trump announced Wednesday that Leavitt, 28, the youngest White House press secretary in history, is set to step down to “spend more time with her beautiful young children and family.”

“Karoline will now be one of my top outside advisors, and an influential voice within the Republican Party, as we work to defy History, and conclusively win the Midterm Elections,” Trump wrote on Truth Social .

Leavitt, who gave birth to her second child in May, making her the first White House press secretary to have a child while serving in the role, confirmed her departure in a statement on X .

She said being called “press secretary” has been “the honor and adventure of a lifetime,” adding that since she had her second child, she “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 returned to the podium from maternity leave on July 16.

“I am thankful to the President for entrusting me with the distinct privilege of speaking on his behalf at the White House podium,” said Leavitt, who is one of only eight women to have served in the role.

Neither Trump nor Leavitt indicated in their social media posts who might succeed her.

During her maternity leave, the White House did not name an interim press secretary, opting instead to have various administration officials brief the news media. They included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Leavitt was an assistant White House press secretary during Trump’s first term. She became national press secretary during his 2024 presidential campaign.

Leavitt gave birth to her first child during the 2024 presidential campaign and returned to work just four days into her maternity leave after the attempt to assassinate Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Leavitt had intended for her April 24 briefing to be the last one before she went on leave. But she unexpectedly returned to hold a briefing shortly after the April 25 shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner .

Leavitt is the fifth woman in a high-ranking position to leave the Trump administration this year, following Pam Bondi as attorney general, Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer as labor secretary and Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence. All four have been replaced by men.

At a little over 18 months, Leavitt’s tenure is the second-longest for a White House press secretary under Trump. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, now the governor of Arkansas, was in the role for nearly two years during Trump’s first term. None of Trump’s other press secretaries — Sean Spicer, Stephanie Grisham and Kayleigh McEnany — lasted a full year in the job.

Between Trump’s two terms, Leavitt made an unsuccessful bid for Congress. She ran for a House seat in New Hampshire in 2022 and lost to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas.