Karoline Leavitt: six key takeaways from 20 months as Trump’s press secretary

Published 12 August 2026 · world

1. Leavitt presided over an influx of rightwing media pundits in the briefing room Leavitt, 28, attempted to take control over which outlets would serve

1. Leavitt presided over an influx of rightwing media pundits in the briefing room Leavitt, 28, attempted to take control over which outlets would serve in the White House press pool – a group of dedicated media who cover the president’s daily movements. The White House Correspondents’ Association, an independent body which manages the pool, rejected the proposal. Her team also introduced a “new media” seat at the White House, which often includes conservative commentators who are friendly with the Trump administration. Leavitt was also a defendant in the Associated Press lawsuit, which saw her press team block the Associated Press from serving in the press pool in retaliation for the outlet refusing to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America”. During his first term, Donald Trump cycled through five press secretaries. His first, Sean Spicer, left the White House after six months. Leavitt, however, proved a key ally for Trump – often receiving praise.

However, she is not the president’s longest-serving press secretary. Sarah Huckabee Sanders served for almost two years in the first Trump White House. 3. This loyalty stretched to defending Trump’s ties with Epstein … As questions mounted over Trump’s former relationship with the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, an email emerged in November 2025 in which Epstein described Trump as the “dog that hasn’t barked”. Asked whether the president had ever spent hours at Epstein’s house with a victim, Leavitt replied during a press briefing: “These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong.” The Trump administration “has done more with respect to transparency when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein than any administration ever”, she argued, as it faced growing pressure to be more transparent over its handling of documents tied to Epstein. 4. … and attacking reporters trying to hold the White House to account When Renee Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer amid a crackdown in Minneapolis in January 2026, Leavitt pushed back at a reporter questioning her over ICE during a briefing.

“Why was Renee Good unfortunately and tragically killed?” she asked a reporter. “Because an ICE agent acted recklessly and killed her unjustifiably,” they replied. Leavitt shot back: “OK, so you’re a biased reporter with a leftwing opinion … Because you’re a leftwing hack. You’re not a reporter, posing in this room as a journalist. And it’s so clear by the premise of your question. And you and the people of the media who have such biases but fake like you’re a journalist, you shouldn’t even be sitting in that seat.” Addressing the deadly shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis later that month, however, Leavitt refused to endorse Trump adviser Stephen Miller’s slander of Pretti as a “would-be assassin”, and described his death as a “tragedy”. 5. She faced criticism for her attacks on Gen Z As Trump and his administration tried to brand a wave of leftwing winners in Democratic primaries “communist” candidates, Leavitt argued in July that such politicians were succeeding because many Gen Z voters were used to “getting everything handed to them”.