Outgoing press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks on last day at White House: ‘Adventure of a lifetime’

Outgoing White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is finishing her last day on the job, which she is leaving to spend more time at home with her two young children.

“It’s very bittersweet,” she told the press Thursday at the White House. “And I know the president will continue to take your calls and provide you with statements every day until he assumes a replacement for the role.”

President Donald Trump announced earlier this month that Leavitt would leave the role to “spend more time with her beautiful young children and family,” adding that she would remain a top outside advisor ahead of the midterms.

Leavitt made the decision to step down shortly after she returned from maternity leave, following the birth of her second child, a daughter, in May. She has indicated she will be an advisor at MAGA Inc, a Trump-aligned super PAC after exiting the White House. The search for Leavitt’s successor is ongoing, and Leavitt told reporters she will “give my advice to whomever assumes the job.” 

“I think it’s most important in this job to understand that President Trump is his own best spokesperson,” she said, joking that Trump is the “true communications director and press secretary here at the White House.”

“I believe so much in my heart about what this president is doing every day, the policies he’s enacting,” she said. “It’s been an honor to speak on behalf of him and to understand his thinking and to relay it to all of you, but also to the country, over the past 20 months and then again before that on the campaign.”

Contacted for comment, the White House pointed Heartlander News to Leavitt’s comments on NewsNation, where she said working her last day was a “surreal feeling.”

“It has been the honor and blessing of my life to serve as his spokesperson. I think regardless of whether Republican or Democrat, I think everyone in this country can agree there will never be another political figure or president like President Donald J. Trump. It has just been the adventure of a lifetime to serve in this job.” 

Leavitt said she was looking forward to “returning home and spending a lot more time with my kids” while continuing to serve as an outside advisor.

Leavitt, the youngest ever press secretary and first to give birth on the job, said it has been a constant “balancing act.”

“Every day as a working mother is a challenge. You have to make sacrifices, you have to prioritize your time, and you have to say no to a lot of opportunities that come your way because you want to be there for bedtime with your kids every night,” she said.

Her two children at home “deserve and need their mother’s 24/7 constant attention and presence,” Leavitt said. “They are very young, this is a very impressionable time, and of course we never get these years back with our young kids.”

Trump also deserves a press secretary who is on the job 24/7, which is what the press secretary role requires, she said.

“It was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to make,” Leavitt said. “Sometimes in life you just can’t have it all at the same time, and I realized I’m at that moment in my life right now.”