Karoline Leavitt Leaves White House Press Role to Rejoin Trump's MAGA Inc. Super PAC
Karoline Leavitt is leaving the White House press briefing room and heading back to the political operation that first put her there.
Leavitt told reporters on Friday that she is returning to work for Trump's super PAC, MAGA Inc. — a political fundraising body that can raise and spend unlimited sums, so long as it does not coordinate directly with a candidate's campaign. She was the spokesperson for that same group before joining the Trump campaign and then the White House (Deadline).
President Donald Trump, in a statement announcing her departure, said Leavitt would remain "one of his top outside advisors and an influential voice within the Republican Party," according to Deadline. She confirmed to reporters aboard Air Force One that the day's trip to Myrtle Beach for a campaign rally would be her last as press secretary, and indicated she would join Trump for the Republican Convention in September (Deadline).
Trump first announced the move on 12 August 2026, saying Leavitt would step down at the end of the month (BBC News; Reuters). When she signs off at the end of August, she will end her run as the second-longest-serving press secretary under Trump (USA Today).
Leavitt wrote on X that her recent maternity leave gave her new perspective, and that she decided to depart to "be the best mom her two young children deserve." She had returned to the podium after giving birth earlier in the year (Deadline; Reuters).
No successor had been named at the time of reporting. According to the New York Post, citing sources within the administration, Trump attorney Alina Habba is an early frontrunner for the role — though that has not been confirmed by the White House (The Guardian).
MAGA Inc. reported a war chest of $350 million as of the prior month, according to Politico. That figure gives the group significant spending power heading into the convention and the campaign season beyond it (Deadline).
For the briefing room, the change means a familiar face at the podium replaced by someone new — or by someone familiar in a different way, if Habba's name holds. For Leavitt, it means a return to the organisation where her political career took shape, now with the profile of a press secretary who held the job longer than most of Trump's appointees to the role.
