WASHINGTON (AP) — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made her debut in the briefing room on Tuesday and promised to speak frequently with the news media and open up the briefing room to podcasters and social media influencers.
In her first briefing as the public face of President Donald Trump’s second administration, Leavitt spent about 47 minutes answering questions from the White House press corps on the impact of a White House freeze on federal grants and loans and on the early days of the administration’s efforts to deport migrants living in the U.S. illegally.
While Trump often speaks for himself, Leavitt has the responsibility of translating what his remarks could mean for his policies and politics.
“I can assure you that you’ll be hearing from both him and me as much as possible,” Leavitt said.
A close look at his press secretary:
Who is Karoline Leavitt?At age 27, the New Hampshire native is the youngest person ever to be named White House press secretary. She’s the sixth working mother in a row to hold the post.
Leavitt attended Saint Anselm College, a liberal arts school in Manchester, New Hampshire, on an athletic scholarship. She played on the softball team and graduated in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in politics and communication, the first in her immediate family to earn a college degree.
During her first media briefing Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration was opening up seats beside her podium to “new media voices.” She also addressed the drones seen flying above New Jersey in recent months.
Her previous White House gigs Leavitt “quickly learned it wasn’t athletics I was interested in. It was politics, public service, news,” she told a county Republican group in New Hampshire in 2022 as she explored running for Congress.
She wanted to be a reporter, and even worked for local TV station WMUR, but ultimately was “glad I didn’t continue down that path, working on the dark side.”
She wanted to get involved in the political process. Trump was the inspiration to her.
In his first term, Leavitt applied for a White House internship and was “stunned” to be accepted. She worked in the correspondence office, where she wrote letters in the president’s name.
She later approached Kayleigh McEnany, the fourth and final press secretary of Trump’s term, for a job in the press office. She joined as an assistant press secretary.
“I was immediately impressed by her evident drive and her genuinely positive demeanor,” McEnany, now a co-host of Fox News Channel’s ”Outnumbered,” said in an email. “Karoline is sharp, professional, and enterprising, and I knew that I wanted to hire her on the spot.”
In between White House jobsAfter Trump lost reelection in 2020, Leavitt became communications director for Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, one of Trump’s staunchest defenders in the House. Trump recently nominated Stefanik to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Leavitt still maintains, as does Trump, that the election was stolen from him despite evidence to the contrary.
She left Stefanik’s office to run for a seat in Congress from New Hampshire. She won a 10-way primary for the Republican nomination, including defeating Trump administration alum Matt Mowers, before losing to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas in the general election.
Mowers said Leavitt is a hard worker and strong communicator.
“She knows how to sharpen the points that she wants to get across and she communicates them consistently and is pretty good staying on message,” Mowers said in a telephone interview.
Trump’s third campaignLeavitt was national spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, traveling and aggressively promoting his policies and defending him during frequent TV appearances. She did the same during the transition after Trump was reelected. As expected, he later tapped her to be White House press secretary.
Leavitt, who is married, gave birth to her first child, a boy named Nicholas, three days before Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania last July. She quickly returned to work.
“Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator,” Trump said. “I have the utmost confidence she will excel at the podium, and help deliver our message to the American people as we Make America Great Again.”
Trump had four press secretaries in his first term.
Opening up the briefing roomLeavitt started the question period in her first briefing by calling on the outlets Axios and Breitbart News, saying that non-traditional outlets would play a bigger role going forward in the White House.
“We welcome independent journalists, podcasters, social media influencers and content creators to apply for credentials to cover this White House,” she said.
