White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will step down from her role at the end of August, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday on Truth Social.
Trump said Leavitt is leaving the White House to spend more time with her growing family and will continue to serve as one of his top outside advisers.
“Our wonderful White House Press Secretary, and one of my most trusted aides, Karoline Leavitt, will be departing her role at the end of the month so she can spend more time with her beautiful young children and family, a decision I totally understand and respect!” Trump wrote on his social media platform.
Trump praised Leavitt’s work in the administration and said she would remain involved in his political operation after leaving the White House.
“Karoline will continue on as one of my TOP outside Advisors, and will remain an influential voice within the Republican Party as we head into the Midterms,” Trump added.
Leavitt, 28, became the youngest person to serve as White House press secretary when Trump returned to office in January 2025. She recently returned from maternity leave after giving birth to her second child in May, according to the Associated Press.
Before joining the second Trump administration, Leavitt served as national press secretary for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and as a spokeswoman for his transition team. She previously worked in the White House press office during Trump’s first administration.
Leavitt also ran for Congress in New Hampshire in 2022, winning the Republican nomination before losing the general election to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas.
As press secretary, Leavitt became one of the administration’s most visible spokespeople, regularly defending Trump and his policies during White House briefings and television appearances.
She also presided over significant changes to the White House’s relationship with the press. At her first briefing in January 2025, Leavitt announced that the administration would open press credentials to podcasters, social media influencers and other “new media” journalists, arguing that the White House needed to adapt to Americans’ changing news consumption habits.
The Trump administration later took control of determining which news organizations participate in the White House press pool, a role traditionally handled by the independent White House Correspondents’ Association. The move prompted objections from the organization and some news outlets over concerns about editorial independence and access.
Leavitt frequently clashed with members of the traditional press corps while defending the administration’s approach, making criticism of legacy news organizations a recurring feature of her briefings.
Her departure comes less than three months before November’s midterm elections and leaves Trump without one of the most recognizable public faces of his second administration heading into the closing stretch of the campaign.
Trump did not announce a replacement for Leavitt in his Wednesday post.
