The most visible spokesperson of President Donald Trump’s second term is stepping away from the podium. On August 12, 2026, the president said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will exit the job before August is out, describing her as among his most trusted aides and announcing that she will shift into a senior advisory position outside the administration as Republicans gear up for the midterm elections.
Both Trump and Leavitt confirmed the move in separate posts on social media. At 28, Leavitt holds the distinction of being the youngest person ever to hold the press secretary job, which she took on when Trump was sworn in again in January 2025. Her exit arrives fewer than four weeks after she came back to work following the arrival of her second child, a daughter named Viviana, born May 1.
A ‘Bittersweet Decision’ After New Arrival
What tipped the scales, Leavitt said, was the strain of raising young children while holding down one of the most punishing and scrutinized posts in Washington. She took maternity leave after giving birth and stepped back behind the briefing room lectern on July 16. In the weeks that followed, she concluded she could not give her full attention to her 2-year-old son, her infant daughter and the nonstop demands of the press secretary’s office at the same time. She is married to Nicholas Riccio, 61.
Writing on X, she characterized the effort to balance life with a newborn against the pressures of the job as both enormously rewarding and enormously hard.
She called the decision to walk away “bittersweet.” Politics, however, is not something she is abandoning: Leavitt said the president asked her to continue advising him from the outside, and she plans to keep speaking up loudly for the MAGA movement and for Republicans. “My fight is entering a new phase, but it is far from over,” she added.
Trump Praises a Loyal Spokesperson
The president said he backed her call and intends to keep her close, offering praise for both her loyalty and her ability at the podium. “Karoline will now be one of my top outside advisors, and an influential voice within the Republican Party,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, saying he sees her playing a role in delivering GOP victories in the coming midterms.
Riley Gaines, a conservative commentator and Fox host, offered her own assessment: “Karoline Leavitt is so good at her job,” Gaines wrote.
A Career Built Around Trump’s World
Few corners of Trump’s political operation went untouched on Leavitt’s way to the briefing room. She started out in the White House press shop during his first term, later moving over to work as communications director for Rep. Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican. She ran for Congress herself in New Hampshire in 2022, winning a competitive Republican primary before losing the general election to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas. She then took a spokesperson job at the pro-Trump fundraising organization MAGA Inc., and from there became national press secretary on Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
Once in the role, she took a combative posture toward the mainstream media. Her office wrested control of the White House press pool rotation from the White House Correspondents’ Association in February 2025, and at first shut the Associated Press out of briefings after the wire service declined to use “Gulf of America” in its reporting. Allies pointed to her ironclad message discipline and her willingness to push back hard on hostile questions in defense of administration policy.
A Historic Run, and What Comes Next
Her departure ends a run worth noting in the record books. Across both of Trump’s terms, only Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who held the job in his first administration, has served longer as his press secretary. Trump went through four spokespeople between January 2017 and January 2021, which makes Leavitt the fifth person to hold the position across his two presidencies.
Who takes over remains an open question. As of the August 12 announcement, the administration had named no replacement to handle briefings once Leavitt leaves at the end of the month. She said she is thankful for the chance she was given and made clear she does not intend to disappear from public life. “Serving as the White House Press Secretary over the past year and a half has been the honor and adventure of a lifetime,” she wrote.