Trump said Leavitt, 28, would be leaving the administration "so he can spend more time with his beautiful little children and family," adding that he "understands and respects" the decision. He said he would take on an informal role as one of Leavitt's outside advisers and work with the Republican Party ahead of the November midterm elections. In her own statement published on social media, Leavitt said that after returning from leave following the birth of her second child, she "concluded that she could not give both her job and her two young children the attention they thought they deserved at the same time" and that she would therefore step down.
Leavitt gave birth to her second child on May 1 and left the bench in late April. He returned to official press conferences in mid-July after a break of nearly three months; During this time, top officials including Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent replaced him at the dais. His resignation came just over a month after that return.
Leavitt first joined Trump's team as a deputy press secretary during his first term and later worked as a speechwriter. Before her unsuccessful 2022 Congressional candidacy in New Hampshire, one of the eastern states of the USA, she served as the communications director of Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.
Then pro-Trump MAGA Inc. He served as the group's spokesperson and became the national press secretary for Trump's 2024 campaign. She continued in that role throughout the campaign, even though she gave birth to her first child and returned to work just days after the assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. When Trump returned to office in January 2025, he became the White House press secretary at the age of 27, becoming the youngest person to be appointed to this position.
Leavitt's successor has not yet been appointed, and neither Trump nor Leavitt has made a public statement about who might take over the role.
Trump's change of plane while leaving the capital Ankara after the NATO summit in July was on the agenda. Although CIA officials were not convinced, U.S. Secret Service personnel responsible for the president's security described the threat as a projected attack by a shoulder-launched missile linked to an Iranian cell operating in the region.
As many media outlets, news agencies and newspapers reported, intelligence officials believed that this Iran-linked paramilitary group had detailed information about Trump's movements.
Following the intelligence they received just a few hours ago, the US Secret Service took swift action and decided to move US President Trump to a smaller military plane via a truck that carries food served on planes. At that time, the US Presidential Air Force Air Force One continued on its way, with a large group of personnel, journalists and several cabinet officials on board, with no one except the Secret Service personnel aware that the president was no longer on the plane.
Among the senior officials remaining on the plane used as bait were Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; It was stated that Rubio and Bessent were informed about this change, but the majority of the others on the plane were not informed. The operation remained secret for nearly a month before becoming public in early to mid-August, prompting Democrats in Congress, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, to demand a formal briefing on the incident.
It was frequently written, especially in the US press, that White House spokesman Leavitt was among more than 100 staff and journalists on the decoy plane. Information obtained from reliable sources, including the New York Times newspaper and the White House, indicates that Leavitt was not on that flight. Popular US-based fact-checking platform Snopes stated that Leavitt could not provide independent verification as to whether the bait was left on the plane. He left the allegation as "unrated" as of this writing, noting that authorities and the New York Times reporter who wrote the trending story have denied it, yet no first-hand witnesses have been identified to corroborate or refute the allegation.
