WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 28: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds her first news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on January 28, 2025 in Washington, DC. At 27 years old, Leavitt is the youngest White House press secretary in U.S. history.
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Karoline Leavitt, 28, is the youngest-ever White House press secretary.
She worked for Kayleigh McEnany and Rep. Elise Stefanik before joining Donald Trump's 2024 campaign.
She is married to 60-year-old real-estate developer Nicholas Riccio and has a son, Niko.
Karoline Leavitt landed a White House internship as a college student during President Donald Trump's first term. In his second term, she serves as the youngest-ever White House press secretary.
A former college athlete who spent her summers scooping ice cream in New Hampshire, Leavitt, 28, quickly rose through the ranks of Republican politics through communications jobs with former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik.
During her tenure as the 2024 Trump campaign's national press secretary, she traveled the country while pregnant and returned to work four days after giving birth to her son.
Leavitt has also acknowledged her "atypical love story" with husband Nicholas Riccio, a 60-year-old real-estate developer. The couple is now expecting their second child.
Here's what to know about Trump's White House press secretary.
The White House Press Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Karoline Leavitt grew up in Atkinson, New Hampshire, and went to a Catholic high school.New Hampshire Republican 1st Congressional District candidate Karoline Leavitt after a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Manchester, N.H.
Charles Krupa/AP
Leavitt's parents owned an ice cream stand where she worked during the summers.
She attended Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
"Having a Catholic education really formed who I am," she said on an episode of The Catholic Current podcast in 2021.
She continued, "It taught me discipline, it brought me closer in my own relationship with God, and it also taught me the importance of public service and giving back to your community."
She graduated from Saint Anselm College in 2019 with a degree in politics and communication.In this Dec. 26, 2019, photo, the campus of Saint Anselm College is shown in Manchester, N.H. Monks at a Catholic college in New Hampshire have gone to court in a dispute with the school's board of trustees over an effort to limit their power. The two sides were in Hillsborough Superior Court on Monday, Jan. 6, 2020, over the lawsuit filed against the Saint Anselm College board last year. The unusual clash was set in motion when the board moved to take away the monks' ability to amend the school's bylaws.
Michael Casey/AP
Leavitt was admitted to Saint Anselm College on a softball scholarship and played as an outfielder on the women's softball team, the Saint Anselm Hawks.
Leavitt's extra-curricular activities included founding the Saint Anselm Broadcasting Club, volunteering at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, and writing articles for the college newspaper, The Saint Anselm Crier, defending Trump's travel ban and criticizing the "liberal media." She also spent a semester studying abroad at John Cabot University in Rome.
In 2018, she interned at the White House during Trump's first presidency as a presidential writer in the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence.
She was the first member of her family to earn an undergraduate degree.
After graduating, she worked with then-press secretary Kayleigh McEnany in the White House Press Office.White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany speaks during a press briefing on December 15, 2020, in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House.
OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images
From 2019 to 2021, Leavitt worked as an assistant press secretary, helping McEnany prepare for briefings.
When Trump left office in 2021, Leavitt took a job as Rep. Elise Stefanik's director of communications.UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 26: House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., attends a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center after a meeting of the conference on Tuesday, October 26, 2021.
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Stefanik served as the House Republican Conference Chair from 2021 to 2025.
Leavitt ran for Congress in New Hampshire's 1st congressional district in 2022.New Hampshire Republican 1st Congressional District candidate Karoline Leavitt concedes the election to U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., at Wentworth by the Sea Country Club, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in Rye, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)
Mary Schwalm/AP
"I could no longer sit back and watch as our conservative principles — that make America the greatest country in the world and New Hampshire the best state in the union — fall under attack," Leavitt wrote on her campaign website of her decision to run for office.
Leavitt won the Republican primary, but lost the general election to the Democratic incumbent, Rep. Chris Pappas, who is the first openly gay man to represent New Hampshire in Congress.
In 2024, she joined Trump's presidential campaign as his national press secretary.Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt (C) and Trump adviser Jason Miller (L) arrive at the criminal trial of former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's criminal trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on May 29, 2024. Jurors in Trump's hush money trial begin deliberating today on whether to return the first criminal conviction of a former president -- a momentous decision that could upend the November presidential election. (Photo by Doug Mills / POOL / AFP) (Photo by DOUG MILLS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
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Leavitt held press conferences outside Manhattan Criminal Court during Trump's hush-money trial. Trump was found guilty on all 34 felony counts, but was not sentenced with any punishment due to the US Supreme Court ruling granting presidents criminal immunity protections.
Trump maintained his innocence throughout the trial and often referred to it as a "witch hunt."
Four days after giving birth, Leavitt returned to work when Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024.FILE - Karoline Leavitt speaks to the news media across the street from Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York, May 28, 2024.
Ted Shaffrey, File/AP
Leavitt had a TV studio built in her home so that she could appear on television shortly after giving birth.
"I felt compelled to be present in this historic moment," she told The Conservateur. "The president literally put his life on the line to win this election. The least I could do is get back to work quickly."
After Trump won the 2024 election, he appointed Leavitt as the youngest-ever White House press secretary.US President Donald Trump, watched by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, speaks to reporters while in flight on Air Force One en route Joint Base Andrews, on January 27, 2025.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
As press secretary, Leavitt established a "new media seat" in the White House briefing room reserved for podcasters, social media influencers, and other independent content creators who, "despite being some of the most viewed news websites in the country, have not been given seats in this room," she said at a briefing.
Leavitt is married to 60-year-old Nicholas Riccio, who is more than twice her age. They share a son, Niko, and are expecting a baby girl in May.WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 21: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and her husband Nicholas Riccio arrive to the White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House on April 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. The White House said they are expecting thousands of children and adults to participate in the annual tradition of rolling colored eggs down the White House lawn, a tradition started by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878.
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Leavitt was introduced to Riccio, a real-estate developer, at a campaign event by a mutual friend during her 2022 run for Congress.
They announced their engagement on Christmas in 2023 and welcomed a son, Niko, on July 10, 2024.
Leavitt and Riccio wed on January 4, 2025, days before Trump's second inauguration. Leavitt spoke about their 32-year age gap in a February 2025 interview on The Megyn Kelly Show.
"I mean, it's a very atypical love story, but he's incredible," she said of Riccio, adding, "He's the father of my child, and he's the best dad I could ever ask for. And he is so supportive, especially during a very chaotic period of life."
In a November interview with Miranda Devine on the podcast "Pod Force One," Leavitt spoke about her parents' reaction to her "unusual" relationship with Riccio, who is older than her mother.
"It's definitely a challenging conversation to have at first," she said. "But then, of course, once they got to know him and saw who he is as a man and his character and how much he adores me, I think it became quite easy for them."
On December 26, Leavitt announced that she and Riccio are expecting a baby girl in May, making her the first-ever pregnant White House press secretary.
"My husband and I are thrilled to grow our family and can't wait to watch our son become a big brother," she wrote in an Instagram post.