Trump Names Karoline Leavitt as His White House Press Secretary

Trump Names Karoline Leavitt as His White House Press Secretary

Ms. Leavitt, 27, who served as his campaign’s press secretary and worked in the White House during his first administration, will be the youngest person ever to assume the role.

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By Michael Gold

reporting from Palm Beach, Fla.

President-elect Donald J. Trump announced on Friday that he had chosen Karoline Leavitt, who worked in his administration and served as his campaign’s press secretary, to be his White House press secretary.

Ms. Leavitt, 27, will take on one of the most visible jobs in Mr. Trump’s next administration, fielding questions from reporters in the White House briefing room on behalf of a president with an adversarial relationship to the mainstream media. She will be the youngest person ever to assume the role.

“Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator,” Mr. Trump said in a statement. “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.”

Mr. Trump can be hyper-focused on coverage of himself, complaining both privately and publicly about newspaper headlines and television packages. He made a public show of castigating news outlets over unfavorable coverage and amped up his threats against the media in the final weeks of his campaign.

Mr. Trump cycled through four press secretaries during his first four years in office, and Ms. Leavitt will have to manage his expectations while also navigating the demands of the White House press corps. Her position will immediately make her a public figure in a way that few other Trump officials will be.

Throughout the campaign, Ms. Leavitt adopted Mr. Trump’s disdain for the mainstream media in frequent appearances on major television networks and conservative outlets. Mr. Trump was pleased with her performance and looked to her as a trusted voice to defend him on television, according to people who worked on the Trump campaign.

After working in the White House as an assistant press secretary and in the Office of Presidential Correspondence during the first Trump administration, Ms. Leavitt ran for Congress in New Hampshire in 2022, winning a Republican primary but failing to unseat a Democratic incumbent. She also was a spokeswoman for Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, a close Trump ally who has been tapped to be his ambassador to the United Nations.

Trump Builds His Administration

As his team ramps up the transition process, President-elect Donald Trump says his administration will radically reshape the federal government.

• White House Press Secretary: Trump announced that he had chosen Karoline Leavitt, who worked in his administration and was his campaign’s press secretary, to be his White House press secretary.
• Justice Department: Trump intends to nominate three members of his criminal defense team to senior roles at the department, raising further concerns about politicization of the department.
• Health and Human Services: Trump said he would nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy opposes fluoride in water, promotes unproven Covid therapies and has threatened to prosecute medical journals.
• Immigration: Trump’s plans to expel noncitizens on a mass scale are likely to raise prices on goods and services and lower employment rates for U.S. workers, many economists say.
• Skirting the Senate: Trump’s demand that Senate Republicans surrender their role in vetting his nominees poses an early test of whether his second term will be more radical than his first.