Karoline Leavitt Announces Next Move as Trump Jokes She ‘Loved Her Children More’ Than Him

Breaking

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed this week that she is leaving her post at the end of August to join Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that her Friday trip was her last official flight in the role. “You guys will still see me all the time,” she said, signaling she plans to remain a visible presence in Trump’s political operation even after leaving the White House podium behind for good.

President Trump has taken the opportunity to needle his departing press secretary twice in four days, joking most recently that Leavitt “decided she loved her children more than she loved Donald Trump. I’m very upset about this.” He made a nearly identical joke four days earlier at a rally for Sen. Darline Graham, telling the crowd, “our press secretary, mother of two, and, well, she decided she loved her children more than she loved Donald Trump.” Both remarks drew laughs from the crowds in attendance at each event.

Details & Background

Leavitt gave birth to her second child in May and returned from maternity leave in July, and she has described her decision to step back as “bittersweet.” She has held the press secretary job for roughly a year and a half, becoming one of the most recognizable faces of the administration’s daily messaging operation, and she previously worked as a spokesperson for MAGA Inc. before joining Trump’s 2024 campaign — meaning her new role is in many ways a return to familiar ground rather than a fresh start into the unknown for the young mother of two young children.

No successor has been named, and Trump has not indicated who might take over the podium once Leavitt departs at the end of the month. In a Truth Social post announcing the move, Trump struck a more sincere tone than his rally jokes, writing that he “totally understand[s] and respect[s]” her decision to prioritize her family over the demands of one of the most visible and grueling jobs in Washington, a job that rarely offers a moment’s rest for whoever happens to hold it.

Reactions

Trump’s ribbing has drawn plenty of attention on its own, with commentators noting he’s now made the same joke about Leavitt “loving her children more” than him at two separate public appearances within a single week. Supporters have framed the remarks as good-natured teasing from a boss who will genuinely miss a trusted spokesperson, pointing to his more heartfelt Truth Social statement as evidence of real appreciation beneath the jokes and the good-natured ribbing on the trail.

Leavitt herself has leaned into the moment rather than deflecting it, telling reporters she expects to remain a familiar face through the midterms even without the podium, and her return to MAGA Inc. — the same outside group she worked for before joining the 2024 campaign — suggests the transition was planned well before her public announcement rather than a sudden or unplanned departure from the West Wing altogether.

Why This Matters to You

Leavitt’s exit ends one of the more closely watched tenures of any press secretary in recent memory, and her move to MAGA Inc. means she’ll keep shaping the administration’s messaging from outside the building rather than from behind the podium, right as the midterm campaign season heats up heading into the fall stretch of the election cycle nationwide.

With no replacement named yet, the search for the next press secretary will be one of the first staffing questions the White House has to answer this fall, all while Leavitt herself remains a visible surrogate for the president’s political operation heading into November and the critical final stretch of the campaign season ahead.