Karoline Leavitt appeared forlorn as she accompanied Donald Trump just hours after announcing she will quit the White House at the end of the month in a move that stunned Washington.
The press secretary joined the President as he headed to New York to speak at a police academy on Friday.
Leavitt stood and watched as Trump addressed reporters at Joint Base Andrews as the pair prepared to board Air Force One.
She put on her best poker face as the press pack jostled around her boss but as she walked up the stairs to the aircraft she glanced back down toward the photographers, her face appearing to betray a sense of loss.
Leavitt had just 24 hours earlier announced that she would leave the White House so that she could devote her time to her young family, a decision understood to have frustrated Trump who had begged her to stay on.
The press secretary is among the President’s closest confidantes and was expected to play a central role in the midterm campaign – with the election less than three months away.
Leavitt, 28, had returned from maternity leave just last month after the birth of her daughter in May, her second child in the space of two hours.
She returned to the White House early at the insistence of the President, sources told the Daily Mail. No replacement for Leavitt has been announced, although Trump’s former lawyer Alina Habba is the odds-on favorite with the bookmaker.
Karoline Leavitt appeared forlorn as she accompanied Donald Trump just hours after announcing she will quit the White House in a move that stunned Washington
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on August 14, 2026. Trump is on his way to Garden City, New York, to speak at the Nassau County Police Academy Center for Training and Intelligence before continuing to Bedminster, New Jersey, to spend the weekend at his golf club
Donald Trump speaks to the press as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt looks on
