WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s Wednesday announcement that she’s leaving her role stunned many insiders — who immediately began buzzing about who might replace her behind the briefing room lectern.
Journalists and officials widely regarded Leavitt, 28, as an effective spokesperson for President Trump, whose policies she championed with crisp delivery and conviction. She used her most visible forum to frequently dispense news items in a welcomed change of pace from her Biden-era predecessor.
The New Hampshire native seemed so steady in the role that many thought she could serve throughout Trump’s second term — heightening intrigue into the selection of the US government’s next top spokesperson when Leavitt departs at the end of August.
A White House source told The Post that Trump has not yet decided on a replacement.
Sources within and close to the administration told The Post that early front-runners for the role are believed to include Alina Habba, the former acting US attorney for New Jersey, and Breitbart Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle.
Habba gained fame as one of Trump’s defense lawyers, giving passionate televised appeals on his behalf to journalists before his return to power. She briefly worked in the West Wing last year as a counselor to the president before Trump appointed her the top prosecutor in New Jersey.
In addition to having significant experience as a Trump spokesperson and a polished look, her selection would follow Trump’s first-term pick of another attorney, Kayleigh McEnany, as press secretary. McEnany was regarded as successful in defending Trump and presenting his policies.
Boyle, meanwhile, is a favorite among well-connected Trump allies who recognize the dogged Breitbart scribe’s fiery but steady presence in the conservative media ecosystem.
Trump knows Boyle by name and has given him many interviews, including a recent Oval Office sitdown. His experience with investigative work targeting public figures and close coverage of the Trump movement convey working knowledge of how to manage — and mitigate — PR challenges.
Other contenders could include former White House deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel Taylor Budowich, who departed that role last September to return to the private sector, and current White House communications director Steven Cheung.
Budowich aided early-term messaging strategy and was the force behind a shake-up last year in the White House press pool, which increased the number of outlets able to attend smaller events with the president, such as in the Oval Office, while overriding decades-old deference to the press corps.
Cheung already serves some of the functions of the role, including regularly meeting with journalists to provide information and shape coverage. But he has not sought out opportunities to brief reporters on camera, including during Leavitt’s recent maternity leave.
Also subject to heavy speculation are Katie Miller, a former aide to Elon Musk at DOGE and the wife of deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, as well as principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly and US chief of protocol Monica Crowley, a former journalist who regularly interacts with the president.
Miller hosts a podcast on which top officials regularly appear. Her husband, when asked about wife Katie after a TV hit on Wednesday, smiled but declined to answer reporters’ questions.
The Kalshi betting market featured wild swings as gamblers digested the news.
Longtime Trump adviser Jason Miller at one point placed second to Habba, before fading as major bets were placed, vaulting Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s wife, Fox News personality Rachel Campos-Duffy to 65% likelihood, before failed Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt took the lead.
Miller has worked alongside Trump since serving as a spokesman during his 2016 campaign. He recently was reported to be joining the White House after working in the private sector. But Miller, despite being a trusted adviser, has not sought the position in the past.
Campos-Duffy and Pratt would be dark horses.
Other names bandied about include pro-Trump commentator Scott Jennings and former Arizona political candidate Kari Lake, who presided over last year’s attempted dismantling of Voice of America while leading the federal agency that oversees the US-funded media outlet.
Leavitt announced she was departing to spend more time raising her two young children — including Niko, 2, and three-month-old Vivi — and is expected to remain a close adviser to the president.
Trump wrote in a statement that Leavitt was among his “most trusted aides” and was “one of the best White House Press Secretaries in the History of the Office.”
Trump’s decision not to immediately announce a successor opens the door to another option: the temporary use of senior officials to provide more sporadic briefings.
Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously led briefings — as has Trump himself.
