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- The last word: what is the reason for the resignation of White House Press Secretary Levitt
The last word: what is the reason for the resignation of White House Press Secretary Levitt
White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt will leave her post at the end of August to spend more time with her family. In a year and a half of working in the administration of Donald Trump, she became one of his most prominent and trusted assistants, and at the age of 28, she became the youngest press secretary in the history of the White House. Levitt has repeatedly found herself in the spotlight due to harsh rhetoric against the media and critics of the president. Who Caroline Levitt is, why she decided to resign, who may succeed her, and whether other resignations will follow — in the Izvestia article.
Resignation of the White House Press Secretary
White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt will leave her post at the end of August. US President Donald Trump announced this on August 12 in his Truth Social network.
The American leader said that Levitt decided to resign from her post in order to spend more time with her young children and family. Trump called her one of his most trusted aides, thanked her for her work and stated that he fully understands and respects her decision. The president also called Levitt "a true leader in the White House" and one of the best press secretaries in the history of the administration.
US President Donald Trump
According to the Associated Press, after leaving the White House, Levitt will continue to be one of Trump's external advisers and an influential figure in the Republican Party. In particular, she is expected to maintain an active role in U.S. political life amid Republican preparations for the midterm congressional elections. At the same time, the name of her successor as press secretary has not yet been announced.
Levitt's first White House briefing took place on January 28, 2025. Even then, she said that Trump himself would be one of the main communicators of the administration. Reuters noted that at the first meeting with reporters, Levitt got into an altercation with reporters about the decisions of the new administration and stressed that the president would regularly address Americans directly.
Caroline Levitt cited the desire to spend more time with her family and children as the main reason for her departure. According to her, the position of White House press secretary is one of the most demanding in the world. After returning from maternity leave, she came to the conclusion that she would not be able to simultaneously fully devote herself to work and be the mother that, in her opinion, her children deserve. She called the decision difficult and "bittersweet."
Levitt's departure occurred shortly after the birth of her second child. The press secretary's daughter was born in May 2026, after which Levitt returned to work at the White House. Thus, the decision to leave the position was made after a short period of combining work in the administration with caring for a newborn child.
At the same time, there have been no official statements about political differences with Trump or a conflict within the administration in connection with her departure. On the contrary, the president publicly expressed support for Levitt's decision and stressed that he expects to keep her by his side in a different capacity. The White House also continued to publish materials about her work and briefings with her participation right up to the period before the announcement of her departure.
Malek Dudakov, an American political scientist, writes in his Telegram channel that Caroline Levitt has found it very difficult in recent months to justify failures in Iran and other areas. However, the upcoming parliamentary elections play a major role in her departure and the resignation of other White House officials. Democrats openly talk about launching multiple investigations into the US president and his entourage if they win the upcoming elections. They intend to expose cases of insider trading — anyone who could leak non-public information to their friends, relatives, and colleagues may be at risk. According to the political scientist, Levitt and other top White House media personalities may be in the crosshairs.
"So it's quite reasonable for Levitt to resign in time to escape from the pretty battered ship of the Trump presidency," the American scholar notes.
International commentator Andrey Kuzmak considers it incorrect to claim that her departure is due to the fact that she is fleeing from a sinking ship, paying attention to the fact that she recently gave birth.
"I'm inclined to think that her departure is most likely related to personal motives, because working as a press secretary for the American president is very stressful," he says.
It is also important, according to the interlocutor of the editorial board, that Levitt's departure now does not release her from responsibility in any way.
— Her position itself is not executive. There is really nothing to show her, no one can put her in jail for anything, unless she divulged state secrets or secrets, or improperly handled, for example, classified documents," the expert explains.
Who's next
Caroline Levitt's departure was part of a broader series of personnel changes in Donald Trump's team. In recent months, several high-ranking officials have left their posts at once.
In May, Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, announced her resignation. Her term of office ended on June 30. Gabbard explained the decision by the need to be close to her husband, who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
In March, Joe Kent left the post of director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He resigned amid disagreement with the US military operation against Iran, saying he did not consider the conflict to be in line with the interests of the country's national security.
Former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard
Another notable reshuffle was the dismissal of Christie Noem, who served as Secretary of Homeland Security. Trump dismissed her from office in the spring of 2026 after criticizing her work amid the proceedings surrounding the department's activities.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi also left the administration in the spring. Trump dismissed her from office on April 2. Her departure also became one of the most notable personnel changes of the second presidential term of the American president.
All of this raises the question of who might be the next to leave the Trump administration.
Malek Dudakov notes that White House Chief of Staff Suzy Wiles, undoubtedly one of the key figures in the current administration, is planning to leave soon. Immediately after the elections, the ministerial structure will also change significantly. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth may be removed, making him a scapegoat for the fiasco in Iran.
Andrey Kuzmak believes that the new dismissals will not affect the activity of the Democrats in any way. If they do win a majority in both chambers and start conducting investigations, new resignations will not absolve even former officials from responsibility, therefore, according to the international observer, it is pointless to leave their posts now.
— As practice shows, if people leave Trump, it is primarily for ideological reasons, and not because they are running from something or are afraid of something, - the Izvestia interlocutor draws attention, citing the example of Joe Kent, who just left his post for ideological reasons..
If we talk about other prominent personalities of the Trump administration, the expert singles out Pete Hegseth.
— Hegseth is an executive figure. This is a figure who is heavily involved in financing — his veterans' movement, for example, was funded by organizations such as the Bradley Foundation. And his political agenda has a nationalist bent — it's not for nothing that he called himself a crusader, and he also got himself a tattoo in the form of a Jerusalem cross and the crusader motto deus vult ("This is what God wants"). He is too dependent on many quite serious political forces, which are even behind Trump," says the expert.
The expert also added that Hegseth's own departure would not protect him in any way, besides, according to Andrey Kuzmak, no one would just let him leave.
Who can replace Levitt
Levitt's departure will set the Trump administration the task of finding a new person who will continue the communication strategy of the White House built under her. The president has not yet announced the appointment of a successor, but several representatives of his team are already being considered among possible candidates.
One of the most obvious options is called the chief Deputy press Secretary of the White House, Anna Kelly. She holds the second most important position in the press service and worked in the Trump campaign headquarters in 2024. In recent months, Kelly has also regularly represented the administration on television and radio.
Kingsley Wilson, a spokesman for the US Department of Defense, is considered another possible candidate. She took up this post in May 2025, and before that worked at the conservative think tank Center for Renewing America, on the GETTR platform and at the Trump campaign headquarters.
Stephen Chun, the White House communications director and one of the administration's key media specialists, is also named among potential successors. Together with Levitt, he participated in shaping the current information policy of the White House, including expanding interaction with conservative and alternative media.
At the same time, the final decision remains with Trump. None of these candidates has been officially approved yet, so it is premature to talk about the future press secretary as a settled issue.
What is Caroline Levitt known for?
Caroline Levitt became one of the notable members of Donald Trump's team even before his return to the White House. In January 2025, she became the head of the presidential administration's press service, becoming the youngest person in U.S. history to hold the post of White House press secretary. At the time of her departure, Levitt was 28 years old.
Her career in politics began while still in college: she completed an internship at the White House during Trump's first presidential term. After that, she worked as an assistant to the White House press secretary, and then became Congresswoman Elise Stefanik's communications director, who now holds the post of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt
In 2022, Levitt tried for the first time to get an elected position on her own. She ran for the U.S. House of Representatives from New Hampshire, but lost to Democrat Chris Pappas in the election. After that, Levitt continued her political career on Trump's team and became the national press secretary for his 2024 election campaign. After Trump's election victory, Levitt was appointed White House press secretary. In this position, Levitt was responsible for the administration's public communications and regularly presented the president's position at briefings. Her work style was characterized by a fierce defense of Trump's policies and conflicts with some journalists.
Levitt's Most Notable Statements and Scandals
During her time in the White House, Caroline Levitt has become one of the most prominent public defenders of Donald Trump's policies. Her style of communication with journalists often became a cause for controversy: she regularly criticized traditional American media and advocated expanding the presence of conservative publications, bloggers, podcasters and other independent platforms in the White House.
One of the most notable episodes was the conflict between the White House and the Associated Press. In February 2025, the administration restricted the agency's journalists' access to events with the president's participation after the AP refused to use Trump's proposed name "Gulf of America" instead of "Gulf of Mexico." Levitt defended the administration's decision, saying the White House has the right to determine which media outlets get access to the president. Subsequently, the AP challenged the restrictions in court, which escalated into a broader conflict over journalists' access to the head of state.
Levitt has also repeatedly publicly condemned specific American media outlets. In June 2025, the official White House website posted a video of her criticizing The Washington Post, and in July, the administration posted a recording of Levitt's speech in which she called NPR and PBS "dishonest news organizations." Such statements became part of the administration's overall information strategy, which sought to work more actively with conservative and alternative media.
White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt and US President Donald Trump
Another high-profile episode occurred in February 2026 after the publication of a video on Trump's accounts that provoked accusations of racism because of the image of Barack and Michelle Obama. At first, Levitt rejected the criticism and called the outrage around the publication "fake." Later, the White House said that the video was posted by an employee by mistake, after which it was deleted. This case was one example of how quickly the press secretary's statements could become part of a public administration crisis.
At the same time, Levitt did not limit herself to reacting to the actions of the media and regularly made harsh statements in defense of Trump himself and his policies. At the briefings, she represented the Administration's position on migration, foreign policy, economics, and national security. In particular, during the escalation of the situation around Iran in March 2026, Levitt publicly stated that Trump fully trusted Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, thereby protecting the leadership of the American intelligence community amid criticism of his work.
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