White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has announced she is stepping down from her role. The decision comes less than three months before the midterm elections, and as President Donald Trump's approval rating falls to a record low.
President Trump announced yesterday that Leavitt will leave her role at the end of the month to spend more time with her young family. Leavitt, 28, the youngest person to hold the role, called it a "bittersweet decision" in a social media post on Wednesday. She is expected to remain involved as an outside Trump adviser and influential Republican voice.
Trump said he supported the move, though some argue it has come at a pivotal time for the president, with midterm elections due to be held on 3 November 2026. Historically, the president's party tends to lose seats in midterm elections, and Trump's low approval ratings could pose a challenge for Republicans in November. Donald Trump's net approval rating has fallen to -27, a new record low, according to The Economist's tracker of YouGov polling.
Her departure has raised questions over who will replace her as White House press secretary and take on the crucial task of communicating the administration's message in the run-up to the midterm elections. The administration has not yet announced who will replace Leavitt.
In other developments, the two most senior members of President Donald Trump's Cabinet, secretary of state Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, flew out of last month's Nato summit in Turkey on what was effectively a decoy plane after an Iranian threat, while Trump was secretly moved to a smaller military jet, a senior US official said Wednesday.