Karoline Leavitt hired by Fox News
Jocelyn Noveck
Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has found her next chapter: She is heading to Fox News.
Leavitt will serve as an on-air contributor beginning November 1, the network, owned by the Murdoch family, said on Monday (US time).
“Karoline’s firsthand experience in the White House and on the presidential campaign trail gives her a distinct understanding of today’s political landscape,” said the network’s CEO, Suzanne Scott.
For her part, Leavitt, in the same statement, said she looked forward “to bringing my unique perspective from my experience as White House Press Secretary, along with the same energy and candour that defined my tenure, to Fox’s millions of viewers across their many platforms.”
Leavitt, now 29, was the youngest person to hold the role of press secretary. When she left at the end of August, President Donald Trump described her as one of his “most trusted aides.” At the time she said she wanted to spend more time with her two children. Her second child, Viviana, was born in May, and she has a two-year-old son.
Leavitt is not the first of Trump’s press secretaries to join Fox. Kayleigh McEnany joined in 2021 and remains at the network. And Dana Perino, former press secretary for President George W. Bush, is a political commentator at the network.
Trump, meanwhile, has hired several Fox News personalities to key jobs in his own administration, chief among them Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Trump has an increasingly thorny relationship with the network, whose key commentators have long given him favourable coverage. He has expressed frustration with Fox coverage choices as recently as Sunday when he bemoaned what he said was the network’s lack of coverage of his rallies.
“Sad to see that Fox & Friends (Sunday) is not covering our packed house and incredibly enthusiastic (beyond!) Rally that took place in Ohio last night, or the ones in Alabama, Texas, or Oklahoma over the past two days,” he posted on his Truth Social platform. “They were all sold out, with thousands of people trying to get in, and are absolutely phenomenal, better than ever!”
“Remember, Fox tried this act once before, and almost went out of business (and always right before an election!). That can happen again!” Trump wrote. He also criticised the recent firing of longtime Fox financial journalist Maria Bartiromo.
The comments came as Trump is embroiled in an increasingly bitter standoff with news outlets whose coverage displeases him, capped by his recent efforts to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House grounds and also to keep CNN out of broadcast pool assignments. A judge has issued a temporary restraining order against the ban, and a hearing is scheduled for Thursday as the news outlets seek relief pending a final resolution of the case.
The White House has not yet announced a replacement for Leavitt, and the position remains vacant.
“Karoline is one of the best and most effective communicators around,” White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote in a statement. “Everybody at the White House is thrilled she has this opportunity to speak to the FOX News audience about President Trump’s successful agenda and highlight all the hard work this Administration has done for the American people.”
Before becoming White House press secretary, Leavitt served as press secretary for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
She also, at age 25, made an unsuccessful bid for Congress in 2022 from her home state of New Hampshire.
AP, Reuters
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