Karoline Leavittās resignation as White House press secretary may have surprised Washington this week, but according to people familiar with the situation, the decision had been building for months.
Leavitt announced Wednesday that she was leaving the Trump administration, ending a high-profile run as the presidentās chief spokesperson. According to the Daily Mail, discussions about her departure had been taking place since at least May, when Leavitt gave birth to her second child.
The demands of raising two young children while serving in one of the most intense jobs in Washington eventually became difficult to balance.
āIt was a very stressful job to do with her children. She never got any sleep, and she didnāt want her performance to slip either, so she decided to stay as long as she could and do the job well,ā one source told the Daily Mail.
The same source said President Donald Trump tried to persuade Leavitt to remain in the position.
āThe president did everything he could to keep her,ā the source said.
Trumpās own statement about Leavittās departure made clear that the split was on good terms. In a post on Truth Social, he praised her work in both his administration and his political campaigns.
āKaroline has been a real leader in the White House, and has done a phenomenal job fighting for Justice, Liberty, and Freedom, since 2018, including our Historic Re-Election Campaign of 2024,ā Trump wrote. He also called her āone of the best White House Press Secretaries in the History of the Office.ā
Leavitt, 28, became the youngest White House press secretary in history when Trump returned to office in January 2025.
She was already a mother when she took the job. Her son, Niko, was born on July 10, 2024, while she was working as a spokeswoman for Trumpās presidential campaign. Leavitt reportedly took only four days away from work after his birth.
Her return came during an especially turbulent moment in the campaign. She went back to work the day after the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Leavitt later became pregnant with her second child while serving as press secretary. Her daughter, Viviana, was born in May 2026.
According to the Daily Mail, Leavitt began seriously considering leaving the administration while she was still on maternity leave. Trump reportedly hoped she would return to the White House and continue handling the press briefings that had made her one of the administrationās most recognizable figures.
One source described the choice as āone of the hardest decisions of her life so far.ā
Leavitt did return to work, but the arrangement apparently did not last long. A source told the Daily Mail that during her first week back, she realized the job no longer felt sustainable.
āFirst week back she realized she wasnāt feeling it anymore,ā the source said.
Another person familiar with the discussions said Trump strongly preferred that she stay because he trusted her and did not want to make unnecessary changes among his closest advisers.
Leavitt, however, had reportedly reached a decision and was mainly concerned with finding a respectful way to leave while maintaining a strong relationship with the president.
āShe was just trying to figure out how to politely step down with his blessing,ā one source said.
Trumpās public response suggests she received exactly that. He said her decision was one he ātotally understand and respectā and indicated that Leavitt will remain involved in his political operation.
Rather than disappearing from Trumpās orbit, she is expected to continue working as an outside adviser and Republican political voice.
Her departure closes a demanding chapter in a career that placed her at the center of the White House press operation at an unusually young age. For Leavitt, the decision appears to have come down to a more personal calculation: whether the responsibilities of the job could continue to coexist with the demands of raising two very young children.