White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will leave her post on August 31, 2026, after 589 days in the job. President Donald Trump says she will remain in his inner circle as an adviser.
According to DR, Trump announced the departure in a post on Truth Social. Leavitt, who is 28, is the youngest person to hold the office since it was created almost 100 years ago.
In the post, Trump described Leavitt as a true leader in the White House and praised her work since 2018, including during the 2024 reelection campaign. He also called her one of the best press secretaries in the history of the office, DR reports.
Leavitt announced her decision in a farewell post on Instagram, where she called the job both rewarding and challenging. As reported by DR, she wrote that she cannot be the best mother to her two small children while giving the job the time and energy it demands.
She gave birth to her second child in May 2026 and returned to work afterward. Per DR, family life is now the reason she is stepping away from the podium. Trump has said she will continue to advise him and the Republicans.
Successor not yet announced
The White House has not said who will take over the role. Swedish broadcaster TV4 also reported that Leavitt is leaving at the end of the month and that her replacement remains unknown.
The American Conservative reported that Trump presented the exit as a decision to spend more time with her family, and noted that no successor has been named. CBS News has reported that Leavitt reclaimed the traditional West Wing press secretary office and took on some duties previously handled by Taylor Budowich, with Steven Cheung also involved.
During her time in the job, Leavitt fielded questions on tariff policy, the Israel-Gaza conflict and the war in Iran, DR reports. She also handled American ambitions to take over Greenland, the Epstein case and the actions of ICE in Minneapolis.
Smaller controversies also reached the briefing room. Among them was an AI video on Trump’s Truth Social profile depicting the Obamas as apes, and Trump telling a reporter asking about Jeffrey Epstein to be quiet, according to DR. Leavitt responded that the president is direct and honest with everyone in the room.
Leavitt frequently criticized what she called biased and unfair left-wing media. DR notes one example after Vanity Fair published an article based on interviews with chief of staff Susie Wiles. Leavitt called the piece dishonest journalism, while the journalist behind it maintained that the quotes were not taken out of context.
Leavitt did not break the record for the longest-serving press secretary under Trump. That record still belongs to Sarah Huckabee Sanders from his first term, DR reports.
