Karoline Leavitt to join Fox News Channel as contributor

Karoline Leavitt will join Fox News Channel as a contributor.

Fox News Channel announced the hire on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, naming the former Trump administration press secretary to the on-air role Variety. The news was reported the same day by several outlets, including the New York Post and The New York Times. She is expected to start on Nov. 1 TheWrap.

A contributor, meaning a paid pundit who appears across programmes to offer analysis rather than hosting a show of her own, is a regular landing spot for former Washington staff. Leavitt fits that pattern closely. No solo programme has been announced, and no episode order or time slot is involved.

Leavitt served as White House press secretary under President Donald Trump. Before that, she worked as the Trump campaign's national press secretary, handling daily contact with reporters through the election Fox News. That is the job that first made her a familiar face to political reporters. It also put her on television screens long before this contract.

She is the second of Trump's former press secretaries to join Fox News The New York Times. The other is Kayleigh McEnany, a former press secretary who works for a Fox Corp.-backed media outlet. The organisation has a history of hiring former administration staff for on-air roles. This hire continues that practice.

Her briefing-room tenure included sharp exchanges that travelled widely in clips and social video. In January, she clashed with The Hill columnist Niall Stanage over an ICE-involved shooting, calling him a left-wing activist during the exchange Fox News. That moment was covered at length at the time. It is part of why many viewers will already know her style.

For viewers, this means a familiar podium figure will now turn up on the couch and the panel. The tone will be different. The questions will come from hosts, not from the press corps.