{"id":42112,"date":"2026-08-13T01:58:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T20:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=42112"},"modified":"2026-08-13T01:58:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T20:58:26","slug":"karoline-leavitt-to-step-down-as-white-house-press-secretary-at-end-of-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=42112","title":{"rendered":"Karoline Leavitt to step down as White House press secretary at end of month"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-c953e2\" class=\"body-graf\">White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will be leaving the administration at the end of the month, after serving in the role since the beginning of President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\">Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> second term.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-f1681b\" class=\"body-graf\">Trump on Wednesday announced that Leavitt, 28, the youngest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/white-house\" target=\"_blank\">White House<\/a> press secretary, is set to step down to \u201cspend more time with her beautiful young children and family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-f8a201\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cKaroline 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,\u201d Trump wrote on <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/117084211457388624\" target=\"_blank\">Truth Social<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__FvnTh styles_medium__MEKii\" id=\"anchor-14a9c0\"><picture class=\"styles_image__i32F7\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"fit\" data-original-height=\"1672\" data-original-width=\"2500\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260812-Karoline-Leavitt-ew-344p-875a22.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260812-Karoline-Leavitt-ew-344p-875a22.jpg 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260812-Karoline-Leavitt-ew-344p-875a22.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260812-Karoline-Leavitt-ew-344p-875a22.jpg 1x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260812-Karoline-Leavitt-ew-344p-875a22.jpg\" alt=\"Trump\" height=\"1672\" width=\"2500\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__TCewG\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on July 23.<\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Julia Demaree Nikhinson \/ AP file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"anchor-e62a94\" class=\"body-graf\">Leavitt, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/white-house\/white-house-press-secretary-karoline-leavitt-gives-birth-second-child-rcna344030\" target=\"_blank\">gave birth to her second child<\/a> in May, making her the first White House press secretary to have a child while serving in the role, confirmed her departure in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/karolineleavitt\/status\/2087625708554100999?s=46&amp;t=2ZF541WhC6fkvXZKxuTNfw\" target=\"_blank\">statement on X.<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-fded02\" class=\"body-graf\">She said that being called press secretary has been \u201cthe honor and adventure of a lifetime,\u201d adding that since having her second child, she \u201cfelt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-eca00a\" class=\"body-graf\">Leavitt returned to the podium from maternity leave on July 16.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-ef1c26\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cI am thankful to the President for entrusting me with the distinct privilege of speaking on his behalf at the White House podium,\u201d said Leavitt, who is one of only eight women to have served in the role.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-f97e97\" class=\"body-graf\">Leavitt was an assistant White House press secretary during Trump\u2019s first term. She later became national press secretary during his 2024 presidential campaign.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-c67aa1\" class=\"body-graf\">In between Trump\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-7260ae\" class=\"body-graf\">Neither Trump nor Leavitt indicated in their social media posts who might be named the next White House press secretary.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-fc2bc8\" class=\"body-graf\">Earlier this year, Leavitt had intended for her April 24 press briefing to be the last one before she went on maternity leave. But she unexpectedly returned to hold a briefing shortly after the April 25 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/politics-news\/white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting-suspect-pleads-not-guilty-f-rcna344509\" target=\"_blank\">shooting at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-1a1661\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">Leavitt gave birth to her first child during the 2024 presidential campaign, returning to work just four days into her maternity leave after the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/new-senate-report-trump-assassination-attempt-calls-severe-disciplinar-rcna218501\" target=\"_blank\">assassination attempt on Trump<\/a> in Butler, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will be leaving the administration at the end of the month, after serving in the role since the beginning of President Donald Trump\u2019s second term. Trump on Wednesday announced that Leavitt, 28, the youngest White House press secretary, is set to step down to \u201cspend more time with her&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260812-Karoline-Leavitt-ew-344p-875a22.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}