Karoline Leavitt, 28, is leaving her role as Donald Trump's press secretary at the end of the month to spend more time with her two young children and her 60-year-old husband, according to a post by Trump on Truth Social. She will serve as one of Trump's "top outside advisors."
The official version is that Leavitt is resigning on her own terms for family reasons, not because Trump's approval ratings are at record lows. But her tenure was marked by a communication style that made her eminently qualified for the administration, characterized by attacking Trump's enemies and making false claims.
Economic falsehoods and tariff claims
In March 2025, Leavitt told reporters that tariffs were a "tax cut for the American people." Economists dispute this. Tara Sinclair, a George Washington University economist, told fact-checking website Politifact: "Economists don't agree on much, but we agree tariffs are taxes on consumers." The nonpartisan Tax Foundation said that in 2025, the Trump tariffs "amounted to an average tax increase of $1,000" per US household.
Leavitt also suggested that young people complaining about costs should work harder. In a conversation with Fox News' Jesse Watters, she said her generation had been raised with "silver spoons in their mouths, just getting everything handed to them," adding that the country "was built on meritocracy and hard work."
USAID funding and false condom claim
In January 2025, Leavitt justified Trump's freeze on federal funding to USAID by claiming it was wasting money, saying "there was about to be 50m taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza." Documents show no condoms were sent to the Middle East. The dismantling of USAID has been linked to increased pregnancy complications and maternal death in poor countries, with a Lancet study estimating US funding cuts could result in more than 14 million deaths by 2030.
Conduct toward media and future steps
Last October, Leavitt responded to Huffington Post correspondent SV Dáte's text question with "Your mom did," and later called him a "far left hack who nobody takes seriously." Her future may include a role on Fox News or a tell-all book. As an outside advisor, communications with Trump and his advisers can be considered privileged, complicating future investigations. The justice department's office of legal counsel issued a 21-page opinion on Monday about the president's "executive privilege" protecting such communications.
