Karoline Leavitt is stepping down as White House press secretary after President Donald Trump repeatedly contacted her during maternity leave to ask when she would return.
Leavitt had reportedly been considering leaving the position before she ultimately decided to “prioritize her family.”
President Donald Trump announced Leavitt’s departure Wednesday and said she would remain involved as one of his “top outside advisors” and an “influential voice within the Republican Party.”
Trump praised her performance, calling her one of the “best White House Press Secretaries in the History of the Office.”
Leavitt, 28, had been back behind the White House podium for only a few weeks after giving birth to her second child. She welcomed her daughter, Vivian, on May 1 and returned to work around 11 weeks later, delivering her first formal briefing in mid-July. Her son, Niko, is 2.
The Daily Mail reports it was told by purported sources it did not name that Leavitt had considered leaving while she was still on maternity leave. One source said Trump repeatedly contacted her during that time and asked when she planned to return.
The source said Leavitt had been “strongly weighing whether to quit during maternity leave” because the president “would contact her often and repeatedly ask when she was coming back.”
The demands of the position reportedly became harder to manage after she returned. A source said Leavitt experienced burnout within days of coming back to the White House.
“It was a very stressful job to do with her children. She never got any sleep, and she didn’t want her performance to slip either,” the source said. They added that “the president did everything he could to keep her.”
The tabloid A separate also source said Leavitt knew almost immediately that she wanted to leave. She reportedly spent weeks trying to figure out how to tell Trump without damaging their relationship.
“First week back she realized she wasn’t feeling it anymore,” the source said. The person also claimed Trump did not want her to go because he trusted her and preferred not to bring unfamiliar people into his inner circle.
The tabloid says another source, also unnamed, said Leavitt wanted to leave on good terms.
“She was just trying to figure out how to politely step down with his blessing,” the source said.
Leavitt’s decision comes as the Trump administration has experienced several changes among senior officials. As reported by Daily Beast, former Attorney General Pam Bondi and former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem among officials who were fired. Former Labor Secretary Lori Michelle Chavez-DeRemer and Todd Lyon, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also resigned amid scrutiny over their leadership.
Trump has nonetheless signaled that Leavitt will remain part of his political orbit. In announcing her departure, he said she would continue advising him while Republicans work toward what he described as a goal to “conclusively win the Midterm Elections” in November.
The White House has not indicated who will replace Leavitt at the podium.
Trump has made clear that he expects her to remain a trusted voice as Republicans prepare for the midterm elections.
Social media users have reacted to the new information, and speculated on the effects of Trump’s repeated calling while Leavitt was on maternity leave.
One user wrote, “Sounds about right for him. She’s home recovering from having a baby, taking a brief maternity leave, and what is he doing? Making endless calls about when she’s gonna come back and serve him.”
Another agreed, “He [Trump] thinks the world revolves around him.”
Others expressed that Leavitt put herself in the situation to begin with.
“She chose to work for him. Are we supposed to feel sympathetic towards her about this? Because I don’t.”
One user added, “I don’t care about Leavitt. She can get everything she deserves.”
As previously reported, Leavitt’s departure from the White House press secretary role has faced additional scrutiny after a video surfaced showing her in an awkward exchange with Trump and aide Natalie Harp. The footage, circulated by the X account Call to Activism, shows Leavitt sitting across from Trump and Harp during what has been described as a Marine One exchange.
At one point, Leavitt appears to point toward Harp while the women look at their phones.The clip prompted speculation online that the interaction could be connected to Leavitt’s decision to leave the administration. However, the timing of the footage remains unclear, and there is no public evidence linking the exchange to her departure.
