WEST PALM BEACH: President-elect Donald Trump reached into his inner circle on Friday and chose his transition spokeswoman, Carolyn Leavitt, as White House press secretary, putting the 27-year-old in a position to vigorously defend him.
Trump advisers said Leavitt endeared herself to Trump through her passionate defense of him in news interviews and her take-no-prisoners style.
The job of the White House press secretary is typically to help inform the American people about presidential activities without betraying the president’s trust.
“I have every confidence that she will excel at the podium and help get our message to the American people as we make America great again,” Trump said in a statement.
The challenge for Levitt is to convey reliable information and gain credibility with reporters — while maintaining strong loyalty to Trump.
Levitt will be the youngest person ever to hold the title of White House press secretary. Ron Ziegler was the youngest former press secretary at 29 when President Richard Nixon gave him the position in 1969.
Levitt, a New Hampshire native, was assistant press secretary during the latter part of Trump’s first term from 2017-2021.
When Trump was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden in 2020, Levitt became communications director for Republican US Representative Elise Stefanik, whom Trump appointed as US ambassador to the United Nations.
Leavitt ran for a seat in the US House of Representatives from New Hampshire in 2022, and won the Republican primary. She lost the general election to Democrat Chris Pappas, but that experience appears to have given her valuable public speaking experience.
She joined Trump’s 2024 campaign and was a key spokeswoman for the president-elect’s transition team.
Biden had two press secretaries over four years: Jen Psaki and Karine Jean-Pierre.
Trump, who keeps a close eye on those who defend him and whether they are strong enough, had four press secretaries during his 2017-2021 term: Sean Spicer, Sarah Sanders, Stephanie Grisham, and Kayleigh McEnany.
Spicer disagreed with the White House press in his first appearance in January 2017, by falsely claiming that the crowd that gathered in Washington for Trump’s inauguration was “the largest crowd ever to witness an inauguration, both in person and around the world.” “
Photographic evidence showed otherwise and the commotion continued for several days. Eventually, Spicer lost Trump’s trust and the president turned to Sanders, who received praise from him for avoiding the press corps. She is now the Republican Governor of Arkansas.
After Sanders left, Trump turned to Grisham, who had never held a briefing, which she said was at Trump’s direction. She eventually returned to work for Trump’s wife, then-First Lady Melania Trump. Grisham resigned after the events of January 6, 2021, and is now one of Trump’s harshest critics.
Trump’s last White House spokesman was McEnany, who sparred with reporters during the pandemic year of 2020 and is now an on-air personality on Fox News.