White House correspondents widely praise Karoline Leavitt as she announces exit from Trump administration
White House correspondents are largely singing the praises of outgoing press secretary Karoline Leavitt as she prepares to exit the role after just over 18 months on the job.President Donald Trump first revealed on Truth Social Wednesday that Leavitt, 28, would leave her role at the end of the month to spend more time with her family.Leavitt has earned a reputation as a skilled spokesperson who paved the way for nontraditional media outlets to have a voice in the White House.Others see her simply as the mouthpiece for a president who carefully crafted her rhetoric to satisfy an audience of one — Trump himself.SCRAMBLE FOR KAROLINE LEAVITT'S REPLACEMENT ENSUES WITH JUST WEEKS UNTIL TRUMP'S SPOKESPERSON EXITSWhite House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Thursday, July 23, 2026, in Washington.
(Alex Brandon/AP)Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, who now serves as the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, reacted to the news live on air."She is the youngest press secretary in history, huge achievement in and of itself, and was a very effective messenger for this administration," Heinrich said.Heinrich added that Leavitt was "very accessible and in the room with the president," which is not always the case."Under the Biden administration, for example, when we would try to get answers from Karine Jean-Pierre, often it was apparent that she wasn’t as close to the decision-makers and able to give us valuable information, as Karoline has been in her time here.So, this is going to be a big loss for this White House," Heinrich said.WHITE HOUSE PUSHED FOR PROTOCOL TO PRESERVE CORRESPONDENTS' CREDIBILITY AFTER TRUMP'S SECRET PLANE SWITCHNBC News White House correspondent Garrett Haake stressed the stature Leavitt has in the Trump administration, writing on X, "It's impossible to overstate how much of an inner-circle figure Leavitt is in this Wh...