Trump's Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Is Leaving Her Job but Staying as an Adviser

President Trump announced on August 12, 2026, that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is leaving her job and will keep working for him as an outside adviser. NPR

The press secretary is the person who speaks for the president and the White House in daily news briefings with reporters. Leavitt has held that role since the start of Trump's second term. Trump chose her for the job on November 15, 2024, during the transition between presidencies. Before that, she was the national press secretary for his 2024 campaign. Reuters

She was 27 when Trump picked her, making her the youngest person to ever hold the title of White House press secretary. Reuters

Leavitt's connection to Trump goes back further than the 2024 campaign. She worked as a communications aide in the White House during Trump's first term. In October 2020, she tested positive for COVID-19 during a broader outbreak among White House staff and Republican officials. Reuters By April 2024, she had become the national press secretary for the Trump campaign, speaking for the campaign through the general election. Reuters

Trump said Leavitt will stay on as an outside adviser, but he did not say who will replace her as press secretary. The White House has not said how it will handle communications going forward.

The switch from a regular White House job to an outside adviser role is worth understanding. When someone works as a full-time White House employee, they follow strict government ethics rules and have to disclose their finances. An outside adviser does not have to follow those same rules. Think of it like the difference between a company's full-time spokesperson and a consultant the company calls for advice. The spokesperson is there every day answering questions. The consultant helps behind the scenes but is not held to the same workplace rules. For Leavitt, moving to an outside role means she will likely work more on strategy and less as the public face of the administration.

Leavitt served as press secretary for about 19 months, covering the start of Trump's second term. During that time she was the main on-camera spokesperson for the administration, holding briefings and answering reporters' questions on all the policy and political issues the White House faced.

The broader context here is that the press secretary job has a history of high turnover under presidents of both parties. It is one of the most visible and hardest jobs in the White House, and over the past few decades, press secretaries have tended to leave sooner rather than later. Leavitt's roughly year-and-a-half in the role falls within the normal range for modern press secretaries. What drew attention at the time of her appointment was her age and how quickly she rose from campaign aide to the briefing podium.

For people who follow White House staffing decisions, the key detail is the two-part arrangement: Leavitt is leaving the formal job but staying on as an outside adviser. That setup lets the White House keep her experience and media relationships without having her do the daily briefings. It also means the White House now has an open press secretary position it will need to fill.

No timetable has been given for naming a replacement. The White House also has not said what topics Leavitt will focus on as an outside adviser.