Donald Trump named his White House press secretary on Friday, placing Karoline Leavitt, a 27-year-old firebrand from his inner circle, in position to aggressively defend him.
The job of the White House press secretary typically is to help inform the American people about presidential activities without betraying the confidence of the boss.
“Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator. I have the utmost confidence she will excel at the podium …, ” the statement read.
The challenge for Leavitt will be to impart reliable information and gain credibility with reporters, while maintaining strong loyalty to Trump. Leavitt has been seen as a staunch and camera-ready advocate for Trump who is quick on her feet and delivers aggressive defenses of the president-elect in television interviews.
In a June interview on CNN’s This Morning, Leavitt became embroiled in a heated exchange with host Kasie Hunt, bashing Dana Bash and Jake Tapper for their “biased coverage” of Trump before the highly anticipated debate between him and Joe Biden. Bash and Tapper had been moderators for that debate. Hunt abruptly ended that interview after Leavitt refused to be deflected.
Leavitt will be the youngest person ever to hold the title of White House press secretary. Ron Ziegler was previously the youngest press secretary at age 29 when Richard Nixon gave him the position in 1969.
Leavitt, a New Hampshire native, was an assistant press secretary during the latter part of Trump’s first term, from 2017 to 2021.
When Trump was defeated by Joe Biden in 2020, Leavitt became communications director for Elise Stefanik, the Republican US representative, who has been tapped by Trump as his US ambassador to the United Nations.
Leavitt ran for a seat in the US House of Representatives from New Hampshire in 2022, winning the Republican primary. She lost the general election to Democrat Chris Pappas, but the experience appeared to give her valuable experience with public speaking.
She joined Trump’s 2024 campaign and has been the chief spokesperson for the president-elect’s transition team.
Trump had four press secretaries during his 2017-2021 term: Sean Spicer, Sarah Sanders, Stephanie Grisham and Kayleigh McEnany. Spicer got off on the wrong foot with the White House press corps at his first appearance in 2017 after falsely claiming that the crowd gathered in Washington DC for Trump’s inauguration had been “the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe”.
Spicer was replaced after just sixth months in the role, making his tenure the sixth-shortest since the position was created in 1929, according to data from the White House Transition Project. The average term is just under three years.
Sanders, who is now the Republican governor of Arkansas, got praise from Trump for her parrying with the press corps.
After Sanders left, Trump turned to Grisham, who never held a briefing, which she said was at Trump’s direction. Grisham resigned after the events of 6 January 2021, and is now a sharp Trump critic.
Trump’s last chief spokesperson at the White House was McEnany, who sparred with reporters during the pandemic year of 2020 and is now an on-air personality at Fox News.
