The race to become President Trump’s next White House press secretary is suddenly wide open after Karoline Leavitt announced she will leave the briefing room at the end of August, setting off immediate speculation over who gets one of Washington’s most visible jobs.
Leavitt, 28, announced Wednesday that she was stepping away to spend more time with her young family, including her 2-year-old son Niko and three-month-old daughter Vivi.
Her departure creates a significant communications challenge for the administration. Leavitt developed a reputation for combative exchanges with reporters while also using briefings to announce administration news and promote President Trump’s agenda.
President Trump praised Leavitt as one of his “most trusted aides” and “one of the best White House Press Secretaries in the History of the Office.”
Now comes the fun part, Washington’s favorite parlor game: guessing who gets the job before President Trump actually tells anybody.
According to sources cited by The New York Post, former acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba and Breitbart Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle are among the names receiving early attention.
Habba would certainly arrive with experience dealing with hostile questioning. She became nationally known while serving as an attorney for President Trump during his legal battles, regularly appearing on television to defend him. She later served as a counselor to the president before being appointed as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor.
Putting an attorney behind the podium would hardly be unprecedented for President Trump. Kayleigh McEnany, another attorney, became one of the defining press secretaries of his first administration through her confrontational exchanges with reporters.
Boyle represents a different possibility. As a longtime conservative journalist, he has spent years covering President Trump and the political movement surrounding him. President Trump knows Boyle personally and has participated in numerous interviews with him, including an Oval Office interview.
Several administration veterans are also reportedly being discussed.
Former White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich helped develop the administration’s communications strategy and played a prominent role in changing access to the White House press pool.
Current communications director Steven Cheung is another obvious name because he already handles significant interaction with reporters and helps direct White House messaging. The question is whether Cheung, who has generally remained away from the daily on-camera spotlight, would want to trade the communications shop for television lights and shouted questions.
Katie Miller, wife of deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller, has also been floated. She previously served as press secretary to Vice President Mike Pence during President Trump’s first administration and currently hosts a podcast featuring administration officials.
Principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly and U.S. chief of protocol Monica Crowley are reportedly among the other possibilities.
Then there are the outside names.
Longtime Trump adviser Jason Miller, Fox News personality Rachel Campos-Duffy, commentator Scott Jennings and former Arizona candidate Kari Lake have all surfaced in speculation. Even Spencer Pratt briefly appeared in political betting markets, proving that when Washington starts guessing, apparently everybody with a television camera and a pulse eventually makes the list.
President Trump does not necessarily need to make an immediate permanent selection. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have previously appeared behind the White House podium, and President Trump has never exactly been shy about speaking directly to reporters himself.
Whoever gets the assignment will inherit a difficult job. The press secretary must defend administration policies, communicate breaking developments and navigate a press corps that frequently clashes with President Trump.
Leavitt made that confrontation part of her public identity. Replacing her therefore involves more than finding somebody capable of reading prepared statements. President Trump needs a messenger who understands his agenda, handles pressure and can command a briefing room where every exchange has the potential to become the next viral political clip.
For now, no successor has been announced. That means Washington gets to keep speculating, and President Trump gets to keep everyone guessing.
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