WHITE HOUSE PRESS secretary Karoline Leavitt is set to leave her role at the end of the month, Donald Trump has announced.

The US president said the 28-year-old, whom he called “one of my most trusted aides”, is stepping down to spend more time with her young family, “a decision I totally understand and respect”.

“Karoline will now be one of my top outside advisors, and an influential voice within the Republican Party,” he wrote on Truth Social. 

It is not clear who will replace Leavitt, who has held the position of press secretary since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.

She recently returned to work after taking a brief leave for the birth of her daughter in May. She also has a two-year-old son. 

Writing on X, Leavitt said that since returning, “I have felt 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”. 

Serving as the White House Press Secretary over the past year and a half has been the honor and adventure of a lifetime. I am incredibly grateful to President Trump for granting me so many extraordinary opportunities, such as working in the West Wing and spending countless hours… https://t.co/4jyW61DGGh pic.twitter.com/xny1yccuBn

— Karoline Leavitt (@karolineleavitt) August 12, 2026

She said the decision was “bittersweet”, and that serving in the post had been “the honor and adventure of a lifetime”. 

Leavitt was the youngest to ever do the job, having served as a press aide during Trump’s first term and then as his spokesperson during his 2024 election campaign.

Before that, she unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the US Congress in New Hampshire in 2022 on a pro-Trump, pro-gun ownership platform.

Her tenure as press secretary saw a revival of regular briefings that had petered out during Trump’s first term.

One of the most visible advocates for Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ movement, she became known for her combative relationship with the White House press corps, often accusing them of being biased, left-wing or anti-Trump.

In February 2025, she stunned the press corps when she announced that the White House itself – and not an independent association of correspondents – would choose which reporters got to cover Trump up close in the Oval Office and on Air Force One.

She also facilitated press credentials from right-wing, pro-Trump media outlets, diluting the presence of traditional news media that tend to ask more challenging questions in the briefing room.

During her maternity leave earlier this year, a series of senior figures from the Trump administration took to the podium to take questions from the media in her absence, including US vice-president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio.

With reporting from © AFP 2026