President-elect Donald Trump tapped Karoline Leavitt to be White House press secretary, offering one of the most visible White House positions to a top spokeswoman from his campaign.
“Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator,” Trump said in a statement on Friday. “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.”
Leavitt worked at the White House as a spokeswoman during Trump’s first term, and looked to parlay her ties with the president into a political career of her own. A New Hampshire native, Leavitt unsuccessfully sought a US House seat in her home state in 2022. Following that campaign, she rejoined Trump’s press team for his third presidential bid.
The press secretary role is a pivotal one in any administration, and particularly for Trump, serving as the daily messenger of his priorities. And it’s a role that holds particular importance to the president-elect, who watched his press secretaries’ performance closely during his first term.
Trump went through four press secretaries during his last stint at the White House: Sean Spicer, who resigned about six months into the role; Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who held the post for the longest tenure — about two years; Stephanie Grisham, and Kayleigh McEnany.
Spicer earned national notoriety — and became a fixture on Saturday Night Live — for his combative press briefings. Sanders, the daughter of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, ultimately returned to her home state and also ran sucessfully for governor. More recently, she appeared alongside Trump in the closing days of the presidential campaign.
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Grisham never held a press briefing during her tenure and would resign her subsequent post as chief of staff to then-first lady Melania Trump after the Jan 6, 2021, insurrection. Grisham would write a memoir about her time in the White House and has criticised the former — and future — president publicly since leaving the administration.
“He has no empathy, no morals, and no fidelity to the truth,” Grisham said at this year’s Democratic National Convention.
“He used to tell me, ‘It doesn’t matter what you say, Stephanie. Say it enough, and people will believe you,’” she said, adding: “But it does matter.”
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Each administration has structured the role differently, and it remains to be seen how often Trump’s incoming White House will conduct daily briefings.
Early in Trump’s first term, the briefings were seen as must-watch events garnering attention on cable television. But during the Covid-19 pandemic, Trump began appearing daily in the White House briefing room on his own to address the media.
