Karoline Leavitt Leaves White House Press Job With No Replacement Named

Karoline Leavitt worked her last day as White House press secretary on Thursday. President Trump still hasn't named a replacement, according to CBS News, which reported that administration officials describe the search as ongoing with no front-runner.

Leavitt, 28, took the podium at 27 years old, making her the youngest press secretary in American history. She held the job for roughly 20 months, a run that both the Daily Wire and CNN describe as the most successful of the five people who've served as Trump's spokesperson across his two terms, ahead of predecessors like Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham and Kayleigh McEnany.

Trump announced her departure two weeks ago in a Truth Social post, calling her one of his "most trusted aides" and saying she'd remain "an influential voice within the Republican Party" as the GOP heads into the midterms. She's returning to MAGA Inc., the pro-Trump super PAC where she worked before joining the administration, according to CBS News.

Why she's leaving

Leavitt said on social media that after the birth of her second child on May 1, she realized she couldn't be the mother her kids deserve while giving the job the "constant time, energy, and attention" it demands, according to CNN. At Thursday's gaggle, she told reporters, "I'll miss you guys. I know that's probably not something anyone would expect me to say, but obviously it's been great working with all of you," according to the Washington Post.

The Daily Mail reported, and the Daily Beast relayed, that Trump called Leavitt frequently during her maternity leave and that her exit had been building for months. An unnamed insider told the Mail that "Trump really didn't want her to leave, as he actually trusts her." New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman told MS Now that Leavitt "had his trust in a way that most people did not" in Trump's first term.

No clear successor

Two names have circulated as possible replacements: CNN commentator Scott Jennings and former Trump lawyer Alina Habba, who was in the running for the job before Trump originally picked Leavitt in 2024, according to both the BBC and the Independent. CBS News reported that Jennings' name has been floated but that he's "unlikely to be the final choice." Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is reviewing candidates, but two sources told CBS there are no front-runners yet.

Habba, 42, previously served as Trump's personal counsel and represented him at his 2024 hush-money trial, where he was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records and has since appealed. She also served briefly as acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey before resigning in December amid a court fight over her eligibility, per the BBC. The BBC also named Katie Miller, a conservative podcaster and former Trump staffer married to Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, as a possible candidate.

In the meantime, briefing duties will rotate among senior administration officials rather than falling to a temporary stand-in from the press office, CBS News reported. That's the same arrangement used earlier this year when Leavitt was on leave and figures like Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio took the podium instead. Leavitt's staff will remain in place and report to Communications Director Steven Cheung; her executive assistant, Kieghan Nangle, is moving into a press-wrangler role.

Competing frames on why this is hard

CNN's Stephen Collinson argues Leavitt is difficult to replace because she "understands the Trump id" better than almost anyone besides Trump himself, and because her combative style with reporters mirrors the president's own approach to media. The Independent makes a similar point but adds a sharper edge, noting that "anyone can be combative on television," and suggesting the harder-to-replicate piece is her working relationship with both Trump and the press corps simultaneously.

The Daily Wire's framing focuses on what Leavitt changed structurally: she opened White House briefings and Air Force One travel to conservative podcasters, influencers, and "new media" outlets that had little or no access under prior administrations, a shift she described in January 2025 as essential to "share President Trump's message everywhere."

The Daily Beast's report leans on Haberman's characterization of a White House where "most people have decided that they want to go do something else" and where Trump has been "lashing out" at staff. The White House disputed this claim directly, with spokesman Davis Ingle calling Haberman someone who "clings onto him for relevance." That's a disputed characterization from an unnamed pool of insiders versus an on-record White House denial. Neither side has offered public, verifiable evidence to settle it.

As of Thursday, the podium is empty, no successor has been named, and the rotation of Cabinet officials filling in will be the public face of the Trump White House until Wiles makes a call.