KAROLINE LEAVITT REPLACEMENT STUNS D.C. – ‘RUMOR HAS IT’
Leavitt Is Leaving the White House—But Trump May Use the Vacancy to Rethink the Press Secretary’s Role
President Donald Trump is about to lose one of the most visible members of his communications team.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will leave her post at the end of August, less than two months before the November midterm elections.
Leavitt said the decision was driven by the difficulty of balancing one of Washington’s most demanding jobs with raising two young children.
Trump praised her as one of his most trusted aides and said she would remain involved as an outside communications adviser and Republican political figure.
That settles the departure.
What comes next is much less clear.
As of August 14, Trump has not named a successor.
Several familiar allies are being discussed in press reports, including Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, Justice Department adviser Alina Habba, CNN conservative commentator Scott Jennings, former White House official Taylor Budowich and Breitbart Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle.
Katie Miller and other Trump allies have also surfaced in speculation.
But there is an important distinction.
These are names being floated by reporters, political allies and prediction markets.
The White House has not announced an official shortlist.
There is also a second possibility.
Trump may not immediately choose a permanent replacement at all.
During Leavitt’s maternity leave earlier this year, the White House experimented with a different model in which senior administration officials took turns handling press appearances.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz all appeared before reporters while Leavitt was away.
That experience gives the administration a ready-made alternative if Trump decides he wants more Cabinet officials speaking directly for themselves rather than relying on one daily spokesperson.
That possibility makes the succession fight more interesting than a conventional personnel search.
The press secretary has traditionally been the president’s principal public-facing spokesperson and the official responsible for regular briefings with the White House press corps.
Trump has never used the position in a traditional way.
He speaks to reporters constantly, posts his own messages directly to supporters and often serves as his own chief communicator.
During his second term, the White House also changed the way reporters gain access to the president, took greater control over the press pool and created a special briefing-room seat for newer digital outlets.
So replacing Leavitt is not simply a matter of finding someone who can stand behind the podium.
Trump has to decide how much he still wants the podium to matter.
Leavitt helped build the current system.
She became the youngest person ever appointed White House press secretary when Trump selected her after the 2024 election.
Working alongside Cheung, she pushed an aggressive communications strategy that favored direct confrontation with hostile coverage while expanding access for podcasters, online creators and newer media organizations.
Supporters saw that as adapting the White House to a changing media environment.
Critics argued that the administration was using access to reward friendlier outlets and weaken the traditional independence of the White House press corps.
Whoever follows Leavitt will inherit that debate.
Sean Spicer, Trump’s first press secretary during his first administration, argues that one qualification will matter more than almost anything else: an existing relationship with the president.
“The next press secretary will undoubtedly be someone who has a strong existing relationship with President Trump,” Spicer told Fox News Digital.
“He values and understands the importance of this role in communicating his positions on policy, personnel and key issues, so I can’t imagine it not being someone currently in his orbit.”
Spicer has ruled himself out of a return to the job.
That preference for trust favors several internal candidates.
Anna Kelly offers the most obvious continuity option.
The White House’s July personnel report identifies her as a special assistant to the president and principal deputy press secretary.
She has already handled television appearances and public-facing communications for the administration.
She also knows the daily mechanics of the press operation.
What she does not have, at least so far, is Leavitt’s experience conducting a formal White House briefing from the podium.
Steven Cheung represents a different kind of continuity.
As White House communications director, he has been one of Trump’s most aggressive and durable defenders.
He worked closely with Leavitt and already exercises substantial influence over the administration’s broader communications strategy.
Making Cheung press secretary would place one of Trump’s most experienced political communicators directly behind the podium.
But it would also move a figure who has largely operated as a strategist and attack spokesman into a role that requires sustained daily interaction with reporters.
Alina Habba would bring an entirely different profile.
Habba became nationally known as Trump’s personal attorney and a prominent television surrogate before joining the administration.
She briefly served as counselor to the president and then moved into the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey.
After litigation over the legality of her appointment, the Justice Department announced in December 2025 that she would serve as senior adviser to the attorney general for United States Attorneys.
That is her current federal role.
Habba has the combative television style Trump often values, but selecting her would also revive attention around the legal controversy surrounding her New Jersey appointment.
Habba was already discussed as a possible press secretary after Trump won the 2024 election.
At the time, she said she was flattered but believed she would be more useful in another capacity.
Leavitt got the job instead.
Her name resurfacing now does not mean Trump has decided to bring her back to the White House.
It means she remains part of the relatively small group of Trump allies with the loyalty, television experience and personal relationship that supporters of her candidacy believe the job requires.
Scott Jennings would be the most obvious outsider-media choice among the frequently mentioned names.
Jennings is a conservative CNN contributor and former George W. Bush administration official who has become known for defending Trump and Republican policies during combative television panels.
Trump has publicly praised him.
Jennings was also reportedly considered for the press secretary role after the 2024 election.
But he has not announced that he wants the job, and public reporting that he is a contender remains speculation rather than confirmation from Trump or the White House.
That distinction is especially important because prediction markets have added another layer of noise to the process.
Movements in betting odds can make one candidate suddenly look like a “frontrunner.”
They do not show that Trump has actually chosen that person.
The president is famous for making personnel decisions late, changing his mind and testing multiple names in public or private before settling on a choice.
Until Trump announces a successor, rankings based on market odds should be treated as indicators of speculation, not evidence of an internal decision.
Katie Miller is another example.
She previously served as press secretary and communications director for Vice President Mike Pence and has substantial experience in conservative communications.
Her marriage to senior White House adviser Stephen Miller has naturally fueled speculation.
When Stephen Miller was asked about his wife as a possible replacement, he reportedly responded with a smile rather than an endorsement.
That is not confirmation that she is under serious consideration.
It is one of several moments that has fed the wider Washington guessing game.
Matthew Boyle and Taylor Budowich have also been mentioned in reports.
Boyle is Breitbart’s Washington bureau chief and has longstanding ties to Trump-world politics.
Budowich held senior communications roles in Trump’s political operation and later served in the White House.
Their inclusion illustrates how broad the potential candidate pool could be.
Trump could choose an experienced White House staffer, a former political aide, a lawyer-surrogate or a conservative media personality.
Those choices would produce very different versions of the same job.
The rotating-briefing model may be the most consequential option because it changes the job itself.
Rubio and Vance did not merely substitute for Leavitt during maternity leave.
Their briefings gave Cabinet-level officials an opportunity to answer questions directly across a wide range of subjects.
Bessent could speak in detail about economic policy.
Oz could discuss health programs.
Rubio could address diplomacy and national security.
Vance could defend the administration’s broader political message.
That can make a briefing more substantive in some areas while also making the White House less dependent on one spokesperson.
There are tradeoffs.
A permanent press secretary provides continuity.
Reporters know who is accountable for answering day-to-day questions.
The spokesperson can coordinate across agencies and develop a consistent message even when Cabinet officials disagree.
A rotating model can fragment that responsibility.
One official may be willing to answer questions another avoids.
Different briefers may give different emphasis to the same policy.
And Cabinet officials have their own departments to run.
The novelty of a rotating lineup does not guarantee that it would work as a permanent communications structure.
Trump may view those tradeoffs differently from previous presidents.
He does not rely on a press secretary to be his sole interpreter.
He frequently speaks directly to television cameras, calls into programs, posts online and responds to reporters during departures, arrivals and public events.
That makes the formal briefing less central to his communication strategy than it was under many earlier administrations.
Leavitt’s effectiveness for Trump came partly from understanding that reality.
She did not try to replace the president as the administration’s dominant messenger.
She amplified him.
That is why loyalty and personal chemistry matter so much in the succession discussion.
A traditional White House might prioritize a spokesperson’s ability to translate complicated policy into neutral institutional language.
Trump tends to value people who understand his instincts, defend him aggressively and can anticipate how he wants an issue framed.
Spicer’s observation about choosing someone already inside Trump’s orbit reflects that history.
It also helps explain why so many of the names being discussed are long-established Trump allies rather than conventional government communications professionals.
Leavitt’s departure also comes at a politically sensitive time.
She will leave roughly two months before Election Day.
Republicans are fighting to hold control of Congress.
The administration is managing major domestic and international disputes.
And Trump’s communications operation will be trying to influence voters while continuing to defend White House policy.
Changing the person at the podium in that environment carries more risk than making the same transition in a quiet period.
The timing may also strengthen the argument for an internal promotion.
Kelly or Cheung could step into a larger role without requiring a lengthy adjustment period.
A figure such as Habba or Jennings would bring more immediate public attention but would have to move into a different institutional role.
A temporary rotating system would allow Trump to delay the decision while seeing which officials perform best in front of the press.
Each option solves a different problem.
Leavitt’s tenure gives the successor a difficult benchmark.
By the end of August, she will have served for roughly 19 months.
Fox News has described her as Trump’s second-longest-serving press secretary, behind Sarah Huckabee Sanders during his first term.
Longevity alone does not determine influence.
But Leavitt lasted through a role that has historically produced rapid turnover around Trump and became closely identified with the administration’s approach to the media.
Replacing her therefore involves more than replacing a spokesperson.
It involves deciding whether to preserve the communications structure she helped build.
There is one thing the current reporting does not establish.
There is no confirmed permanent successor.
Habba has not been selected.
Jennings has not been selected.
Kelly has not been selected.
Cheung has not been selected.
And reports about Katie Miller, Boyle, Budowich or other allies are still reports about possibilities.
The White House may ultimately choose someone outside the current list.
Trump may also leave the formal position open temporarily.
So Leavitt’s announcement settles one question: the White House will have a vacancy at the end of August, and one of Trump’s most trusted public defenders is moving outside the administration.
What it does not settle is whether Trump wants another Leavitt.
He could promote a press-office insider.
He could bring in a high-profile television defender.
He could elevate one of his longtime communications strategists.
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Or he could decide that a president who already dominates his own media coverage does not need one permanent person at the podium every day.
For the White House, that decision will reveal as much about Trump’s view of the press secretary’s job as it does about the person he eventually chooses.
