Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt leaving role, president says – as it happened

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, will leave her role at the end of this month to spend more time with her family, including her two young children, Donald Trump announced today.

The president said on social media that it was a “decision I totally understand and respect”, while adding that Leavitt would become one of his “top outside advisors” when she leaves the administration.

Leavitt was 27 when she assumed the role of press secretary at the beginning of Trump’s second term. She is the youngest person in US history to hold the role. She was previously a press aide during the first Trump administration, before launching an unsuccessful bid for a US House seat in New Hampshire, her home state.

“Karoline has been a real leader in the White House, and has done a phenomenal job fighting for Justice, Liberty, and Freedom, since 2018,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Leavitt gave birth to her second child, a daughter, in May of this year, and recently returned from parental leave.