Losing a press secretary is one thing, but losing the one person willing to disagree with you is a different problem altogether.
A senior White House official put it to Politico this way: “A lot of the men around are yes men. So it’s often up to Karoline and Susie to tell the president what he doesn’t want to hear. He can tell when people are just yes-ing him to death.” That’s the part of Karoline Leavitt’s resignation that doesn’t show up in a job posting.
The departure came together fast.
Trump announced Wednesday that Leavitt would leave by the end of August “so she can spend more time with her beautiful young children and family, a decision I totally understand and respect!” He said she’d remain “one of my top outside advisors,” helping the party through the midterms.
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
Leavitt confirmed the decision in her own lengthy post on X, calling it “bittersweet” and writing, “I will always remain a vocal advocate for MAGA and the Republican Party.” She’d only just returned from maternity leave a few weeks earlier, following the birth of her daughter Viviana on May 1.
Trump apparently wasn’t expecting it, either. A White House official told the Independent that the president himself was caught off guard by Leavitt’s decision.
What happens next is less settled.
That same official said no immediate replacement is planned, leaving reporters with Vance, Rubio and Bessent rotating through briefings, just as they did while Leavitt was on leave.
That is an unusual setup for a job that involves far more than standing behind a microphone. The press secretary coordinates with other agencies’ communications teams, prepares the president for travel and serves as the White House’s official point of contact with the correspondents’ association.
The people who worked alongside Leavitt aren’t exactly making her replacement sound easy, either. Communications director Steven Cheung told CNN: “She is one of one. Nobody will ever be able to do what she did.”
Former press secretary Sean Spicer offered Politico a similar assessment, focusing on the relationship Leavitt built with Trump. “She knew him better than any of the four preceding press secretaries, and she understood the job,” he said. “There’s no one that had that relationship like she did. That longevity, that familiarity.”
That familiarity goes back years. Leavitt started as an intern during Trump’s first term and has spent most of her adult working life around him since.
Naturally, the guessing game over her replacement has already begun. Prediction market Kalshi has principal deputy Anna Kelly out front, although Trump skipped over her during Leavitt’s maternity leave in favor of rotating Cabinet officials, making her odds a little less convincing.
Other names being floated include Alina Habba, Katie Miller, Scott Jennings, Kari Lake, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, RNC veteran Elizabeth Pipko and former deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich.
One source told the Independent that Budowich has the trust of both Trump and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, though choosing him would break a pattern that has held since Spicer’s rough six months in 2017, with every permanent press secretary since then being a woman.
Featured image via X screengrab
