White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is about to take maternity leave, so who will do the press briefings? It will be a carousel of Trump officials, Vice President JD Vance, and maybe, even, the president of the United States himself. If that’s the case, expect Trump to hold court in there for a long time, which could make for exceptional television (via Politico):
JUST IN - White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt expects to have her second child next week. While on leave Vance, cabinet officials, and potentially Trump are expected to handle press briefings — Politico pic.twitter.com/9Eiqishbac
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) April 24, 2026
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is scheduled to have her second child next week, a baby girl, Playbook’s Dasha Burns reports. Leavitt will be returning to the podium after her maternity leave, though it’s unclear exactly how many weeks she’ll take.
No one will be filling in for Leavitt formally during her leave — but the comms shop is planning to have some familiar faces at the podium to brief the press including VP JD Vance, Cabinet officials or even Trump himself. In the meantime, the White House press shop will be managed by White House comms director Steven Cheung and Leavitt’s team: Pat Adams, Anna Kelly, Kush Desai, Abigail Jackson, Liz Huston, Taylor Rogers, Davis Ingle, Allison Schuster, Olivia Wales, Micah Stopperich, Ellie Acra, Georgia O’Neil and Kieghan Nangle.
Leavitt has been excellent at her job, relaying the administration’s message and objectives clearly, which was absent under Karine Grey Poupon, and slapping down the media’s nonsensical antics.
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Vice President Vance also handles the media effectively, calling out their nonsense, as he did when Renee Good was shot and killed by a federal immigration officer after she tried to run them over in Minneapolis last winter, while federal law enforcement swept through the city looking for undocumented immigrants. Either way, it could lead to some interesting briefings while Ms. Leavitt is away.
Wishing her the best as she prepares to welcome her second child.
Karoline Leavitt gaggles with the press for the last time before her baby girl arrives!
— Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) April 24, 2026
“I know all of you have the President’s phone number personally, so I have no doubt that you won’t have a shortage of statements and news from this building while I’m gone” @PressSec 🤣🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/TunqaU3p6S
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