White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Stepping Down, Will Stay On as Outside Adviser
President Trump announced on August 12, 2026, that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is leaving her post and will continue serving as an outside adviser. NPR
Leavitt has held the press secretary role since the start of Trump's second term. Trump picked her for the job on November 15, 2024, during the presidential transition, after she served as national press secretary for his 2024 campaign. Reuters
She was 27 when Trump tapped her for the position, making her the youngest person to hold the title of White House press secretary. Reuters
Leavitt's ties to Trump go back further than the 2024 campaign. She worked as a White House communications aide during Trump's first term, and in October 2020 she tested positive for COVID-19 amid a broader outbreak among White House staff and Republican officials. Reuters She later became the national press secretary for the Trump campaign by April 2024, serving as a principal media surrogate through the general election. Reuters
Trump's announcement that Leavitt will remain as an outside adviser leaves open the question of how the White House plans to structure its communications operation going forward. No successor has been named.
The shift from a salaried West Wing role to an outside advisory capacity is a structural change worth noting. Outside advisers are not federal employees, which means they do not face the same ethics rules, disclosure requirements, or Senate confirmation standards as full-time White House staff. For a press secretary — a role built on daily access to the president and the briefing podium — moving to an outside capacity changes both the level of access and the accountability that comes with it. Leavitt's continued involvement suggests the White House wants to keep her as a communications strategist rather than as the day-to-day public face of the administration.
Leavitt's tenure as press secretary lasted roughly 19 months, covering the opening phase of Trump's second term. During that period she was the administration's primary on-camera spokesperson, conducting briefings and fielding press questions on the full range of policy and political matters facing the White House.
The broader context here is the historically high turnover rate for the press secretary position across administrations of both parties. The role is among the most visible and demanding in the West Wing, and the average tenure has trended downward over recent decades. Leavitt's roughly year-and-a-half stint falls within the typical range for modern press secretaries, though her age and the speed of her rise from campaign aide to the briefing podium drew attention at the time of her appointment.
For political professionals tracking White House personnel moves, the key detail is the dual-track arrangement: a departure from the formal role paired with continued engagement as an outside adviser. That structure lets the White House keep Leavitt's institutional knowledge and media relationships without keeping her in the daily briefing rotation. It also leaves the press secretary vacancy as an immediate personnel decision the White House will need to address.
No timetable has been given for naming a replacement, and the White House has not specified what Leavitt's outside advisory portfolio will cover.
