White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt announced she will go on maternity leave ahead of the birth of her second child, but did not name a replacement. «For a personal matter, this will probably be my last fight for a while. As you can see, I’m almost ready to give birth at any moment,” added the spokeswoman, speaking to the media at the White House.
«See you very soon. I know you will be in great hands with my team here. And I know that all of you have the president’s personal telephone number”, he then joked, given the number of interviews that the tycoon gives, especially in the evening. The White House has not named an official replacement, and senior officials such as Vice President J.D. Vance may reportedly occasionally hold White House news conferences in his absence. Furthermore, there is no indication of the duration of Leavitt’s absence due to maternity leave. The combative spokeswoman is already the mother of a child born in July 2024 and, at 28, is the youngest person ever appointed to the demanding and delicate high-visibility role.
In the summer of 2024, she returned to work for President Donald Trump’s campaign just days after the birth of her first child, a return precipitated by the attempted assassination of the Republican candidate on July 13, 2024. Leavitt is married to Nicholas Riccio, a real estate developer. As the well-known and popular face of the tycoon’s anti-media offensive, Leavitt is a master at answering journalists’ questions with sarcastic quips, even when the evidence seems to leave no escape. However, despite his composure, his energetic efforts to support the president did not prevent Trump’s approval ratings from plummeting to near historic lows on every topic.