--- title: Karoline Leavitt to Step Down as White House Press Secretary description: Trump said Leavitt will depart to spend more time with her family, but will also become one of Trump's "top outside advisors" canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/Karoline-Leavitt-to-step-down-white-house-press-secretary-Donald-Trump/ author: Philip Wang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-08-12T20:22:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-13T20:39:38.171Z article:section: Politics og:title: Karoline Leavitt to Step Down as White House Press Secretary og:description: Trump said Leavitt will depart to spend more time with her family, but will also become one of Trump's "top outside advisors" og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/Karoline-Leavitt-to-step-down-white-house-press-secretary-Donald-Trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45a7f5139a210a16/6a7cd35e3c19f06fac238d50/GettyImages-2286677276.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: GettyImages-2286677276.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Karoline Leavitt to Step Down as White House Press Secretary twitter:description: Trump said Leavitt will depart to spend more time with her family, but will also become one of Trump's "top outside advisors" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45a7f5139a210a16/6a7cd35e3c19f06fac238d50/GettyImages-2286677276.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Karoline Leavitt to Step Down as White House Press Secretary > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Karoline Leavitt, Youngest White House Press Secretary, Makes Her Debut in the Briefing Room [Watch (HLS stream): Karoline Leavitt, Youngest White House Press Secretary, Makes Her Debut in the Briefing Room](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Ef89jJ8V.m3u8) (5:39)  _Published 2025-01-28. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, the youngest person to hold that office, made her debut Tuesday in the first White House briefing of Donald Trump's second term in office._  by [Philip Wang](https://time.com/author/philip-wang/)  ## Philip Wang Aug 12, 2026 8:22 PM UTC  by [Philip Wang](https://time.com/author/philip-wang/)  ## Philip Wang Aug 12, 2026 8:22 PM UTC [Karoline Leavitt ](https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2025/7318825/karoline-leavitt/)will step away from her position as White House Press Secretary at the end of this month, President Trump announced on Wednesday. In a Truth Social [post](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117084211457388624), Trump said Leavitt, 28, will depart her role to spend more time with her family. Leavitt [gave birth](https://www.instagram.com/p/DYCkTFqEl43/?hl=en) to her second child Viviana in May. “Karoline will now be one of my top outside advisors, and an influential voice within the Republican Party, as we work to defy History, and conclusively win the Midterm Elections,” Trump added. It is unclear who will replace Leavitt as White House press secretary. TIME has reached out to the White House for comment. Leavitt thanked Trump and the White House team in a [lengthy post ](https://x.com/karolineleavitt/status/2087625708554100999)on X, and added that she will remain “a vocal advocate for MAGA and the Republican Party. ” “The truth is since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, 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,” Leavitt said. “It has been a privilege to serve alongside so many accomplished and impressive people, and I look forward to cheering them on over the next two and a half years,” she added. Leavitt has worked for Trump since 2018, beginning as a White House intern in the Office of Presidential Correspondence while a student at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire. She briefly worked as Communications Director for Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, one of the top House Republicans from New York, and later launched a failed congressional campaign in New Hampshire against Democratic incumbent Chris Pappas. After losing her campaign, Leavitt joined Trump’s third presidential campaign, working as a spokesperson for his super PAC, MAGA Inc. In January 2024, she became national press secretary for Trump's presidential campaign. She gave birth to her [first child Niko](https://www.instagram.com/p/C-jOTfbSYuc/?img%5Findex=1) in July 2024, [four days](https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/16/politics/karoline-leavitt-maternity-leave-briefing) before returning to work following the first assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to CNN. Karoline Leavitt, Youngest White House Press Secretary, Makes Her Debut in the Briefing Room ## Transcript Good afternoon, everybody. How are we? Good to see all of you. It's an honor to be here with all of you. A lot of familiar faces in the room, a lot of new faces. And President Trump is back. And the golden age of America has most definitely begun. The Trump White House will speak to all media outlets and personalities, not just the legacy media who are seated in this room, because, according to recent polling from Gallup, Americans trust in mass media has fallen to a record low. Millions of Americans, especially young people, have turned from traditional television outlets and newspapers to consume their news from podcasts, blogs, social media and other independent outlets. It's essential to our team that we share President Trump's message everywhere and adapt this white House to the new media landscape in 2025. To do this, I'm excited to announce the following changes will be made to this historic James S Brady Briefing Room where Mr. Brady's legacy will endure. This white House believes strongly in the First Amendment, so it's why our team will work diligently to restore the press passes of the 440 journalists whose passes were wrongly revoked by the previous administration. We're also opening up this briefing room to new media voices who produce news related content, and whose outlet is not already represented by one of the seats in this room. We welcome independent journalists, podcasters, social media influencers and content creators to apply for credentials to cover this white House. And you can apply now on our new website, whitehouse.gov. Slash new media starting today. This seat in the front of the room, which is usually occupied by the press secretary's staff, will be called the New Media Seat. My team will review the applications and give credentials to new media applicants who meet our criteria in past United States Secret Service requirements to enter the white House complex. And before I turn to questions, I do have news directly from the president of the United States that was just shared with me in the Oval Office from President Trump directly. An update on the new Jersey drones after research and study. The drones that were flying over new Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the FAA for research and various other reasons. Many of these drones were also hobbyists, recreational and private individuals that enjoy flying drones. In meantime, in the time it got worse due to curiosity, this was not the enemy. A statement from the president of the United States to start this briefing with some news. And with that, I will turn it over to questions. Thanks, Caroline. A question that we've asked your predecessors of both parties in this job. When you're up here in this briefing room speaking to the American public, do you view yourself and your role as speaking and advocating on behalf of the president or providing the unvarnished truth? That is not to lie, not to obfuscate to the American people? I commit to telling the truth from this podium every single day. I commit to speaking on behalf of the president of the United States. That is my job. And I will say it's very easy to speak truth from this podium when you have a president who is implementing policies that are wildly popular with the American people. And that's exactly what this administration is doing. It's correcting the lies and the wrongs of the past four years. Many of the lies that have been told to your faces in this very briefing room. I will not do that. But since you brought up Truth Seeker, I would like to point out, while I vowed to provide the truth from this podium, we ask that all of you in this room hold yourselves to that same standard. We know for a fact there have been lies that have been pushed by many legacy media outlets in this country about this president, about his family. And we will not accept that. We will call you out when we feel that your reporting is wrong or there is misinformation about this white House. So, yes, I will hold myself to the truth and I expect everyone in this room to do the same. I just had a substantive question yesterday. The white House Office of Management and Budget directed across the board freeze, with some exceptions, for individual assistance, we understand, to federal grants. It's caused a lot of confusion around the country. How does that uncertainty service the president's voters? Well, I think there's only uncertainty in this room amongst the media. There's no uncertainty in this building. So let me provide the provide the certainty and the clarity that all of you need. This is not a blanket pause on federal assistance and grant programs from the Trump administration. Individual assistance that includes. I'm not naming everything that's included, but just to give you a few examples. Social security benefits. Medicare benefits. Food stamps. Welfare benefits. Assistance that is going directly to individuals will not be impacted by this pause. And I want to make that very clear to any Americans who are watching at home who may be a little bit confused. And the reason for this is to ensure that every penny that is going out the door is not conflicting with the executive orders and actions that this president has taken. So what does this pause mean? It means no more funding for illegal programs. It means no more funding for the Green New scam that has cost American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. It means no more funding for transgenderism and wokeness across our federal bureaucracy and agencies. No more funding for Green New Deal social engineering policies. Again, people who are receiving individual assistance assistance. 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