Trump Wants a Man to Replace Karoline Leavitt as White House Press Secretary: Report
Key Takeaways
- •Trump has told advisers he would prefer a man to replace Karoline Leavitt as press secretary.
- •Scott Jennings and Ari Fleischer have been mentioned as possible candidates for the job.
- •Leavitt plans to leave the White House at the end of August and remain an outside senior adviser.
- •The White House may keep using rotating briefings instead of quickly naming a new press secretary.
- •Natalie Harp has emerged as a possible dark-horse contender inside the West Wing.
President Donald Trump has told advisers he wants a man to replace outgoing White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, according to NOTUS.
Two anonymous sources familiar with the conversations told the outlet that Trump has informed close advisers he would prefer a man for the job, pointing to the four female press secretaries who have served across his two terms. A male pick would be the first man in the role since Sean Spicer left it in 2017 — every press secretary since, from Sarah Sanders, Stephanie Grisham and Kayleigh McEnany under Trump to Jen Psaki and Karine Jean-Pierre under Biden, has been a woman. According to NOTUS, the pick would be intended to head off comparisons with Leavitt, who plans to leave the White House at the end of August.
Trump has shown interest in Scott Jennings, a conservative media pundit widely reported to have been the frontrunner for a time, though one source told NOTUS the president is not sold on the idea. Jennings is a CNN political commentator and former Bush White House aide known for his on-air defenses of the president. Ari Fleischer, who served as press secretary under President George W. Bush and led the podium during the September 11 attacks and the run-up to the Iraq war, has also been floated, according to the outlet.
The reporting adds a new wrinkle to a search that has quietly consumed the West Wing since Leavitt announced last week that she would step down at the end of the month — just a month after she returned from maternity leave. She cited a desire to spend more time with her family and plans to stay on as an outside senior adviser. Leavitt was 27 when she took the post, making her the youngest person to hold the job.
One source who spoke to NOTUS said Trump has indicated he is in no rush to fill the role. Instead, the White House could lean on the rotating briefing format used during Leavitt's maternity leave from late April to July, when Vice President JD Vance and Cabinet members such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took the podium.
Another dark-horse candidate has surfaced inside the West Wing. A person close to the White House predicted that the attention swirling around Trump's devoted aide Natalie Harp could push her into the job. Harp worked in Trump's first White House and later on his 2024 campaign.
"She was on OANN," the source said, referring to her time as a host on the One America News Network. The source added that the media is going to "make her press secretary."
