White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced she will step down from her role at the end of August to spend more time with her young family. President Donald Trump confirmed the decision on August 12th, 2026, and expressed his support for the move.

Leavitt, 28, the youngest person to hold the position, described her resignation as a “bittersweet decision” in a social media post shortly after the announcement. Her departure comes less than three months before the midterm elections scheduled for November 3rd, 2026, prompting questions about who will take over communicating the president’s messages during this critical period.

This transition occurs amid a challenging political climate for Trump, whose net approval rating has fallen to -27, a new record low according to The Economist’s tracker of YouGov polling.

In related news, a senior US official disclosed that the two most senior members of Trump’s Cabinet, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, left last month’s NATO summit in Turkey on a decoy plane following an Iranian threat, while President Trump was moved secretly to a smaller military jet.

Additionally, a federal judge in Miami, Magistrate Lauren Louis, is set to hear arguments regarding whether social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate should remain in custody as they contest extradition to the United Kingdom, where they face accusations of rape and sex trafficking. The Tate brothers have been held in a Miami federal detention center since their arrest on July 18th, 2026.

Sources