White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shakes things up during her first official briefing

Karoline Leavitt has made history as the youngest White House press secretary in US history. And the gun-toting blonde is not afraid to ruffle some feathers.

She’s new to the job but Donald Trump’s press chief is already causing a stir.

At just 27, Karoline Leavitt is the youngest White House press secretary in United States history – introduced to the world’s media on Tuesday.

Following her debut in the White House briefing room she even earned a nickname - and it wasn’t complimentary.

CNN dubbed Leavitt a “spinmeister”, accusing her of spinning information regarding federal grants and loans.

“It’s a classic spinmeister tactic saying I answered that when you haven’t answered it and apparently can’t answer it right away,” the network’s fact-checker Daniel Dale said on CNN News Central.

“There’s considerable uncertainty around the country among nonprofits of various kinds.... So they may not get direct individual payments straight from the federal government but their lives ... are very much dependent on the aid that comes through an intermediary organisation.

“And we still do not have clarity on what is happening with the funding that usually goes to those entities.”

TRUMP LOYALIST

Make no mistake, Leavitt is a staunch Trump loyalist.

In 2017, she wrote to her university newspaper in protest against a professor who had criticised the first-time president in class.

At the time, Ms Leavitt was in her early 20s studying communications and political science at Saint Almen College in New Hampshire.

On campus she was outspoken, often in support of Mr Trump during his first term as president.

Ms Leavitt was a regular contributor to the college paper’s opinion page, once writing in support of the president’s controversial 2017 travel ban.

Karoline Leavitt is the youngest White House press secretary in US history. Picture: Roberto Schmidt/AFP

Ms Leavitt interned for the Trump administration and Fox News during summer breaks.

After graduating in 2019, she headed straight for the White House where she worked as assistant press secretary and presidential writer to Mr Trump until the end of his first term as president.

It’s clear she is no stranger to politics.

Raised in New Hampshire – where her family ran an ice cream shop – Ms Leavitt unsuccessfully ran for a seat in Congress in 2022 on a pro-Trump, pro-gun ownership platform.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is seen firing a machine gun. Picture: Instagram

An Instagram post at the time showed her firing a machine gun on a range with the caption: “@joebiden come and take it”, referring to then-president Joe Biden.

In one notable exchange, a CNN interviewer cut Leavitt off after she criticised the network’s moderators chosen to oversee a debate between Trump and Biden.

But her ultimate show of loyalty came when the presidential candidate survived an assassination attempt at a political rally in June last year.

Ms Leavitt had given birth to her first child just four days earlier but the assassination attempt spawned a new devotion.

“I looked at my husband and said, ‘Looks like I’m going back to work’,” Ms Leavitt told The Conservateur magazine in an article titled “Wonder Woman”.

Her husband, Nicholas Riccio, is a property tycoon more than 30 years her senior.

RISING STAR

In fact, it was her steely appearances on television as Mr Trump’s 2024 campaign spokesperson that earned her the job as the youngest White House press secretary in US history.

On Tuesday Ms Leavitt made her debut at the famed podium to unveil a Gen Z-style shake-up by announcing she would open up the briefing room to TikTokers and create a seat for “new media”, echoing her boss’s wider overhaul of the US government.

Following on from Mr Trump’s focus on podcasters in his election victory and lambasting of “legacy” news organisations, Ms Leavitt said she would be following his “revolutionary media approach”.

Karoline Leavitt takes questions during her first official daily briefing at the White House in Washington, DC. Picture: Roberto Schmidt/AFP

But Ms Leavitt later admitted President Trump would end up taking much of the limelight himself.

“The president is the best spokesman that this White House has,” Ms Leavitt said in her first briefing since Mr Trump’s inauguration eight days ago.

“And I can assure you that you will be hearing from both him and me as much as possible.” As reporters’ hands shot up, Ms Leavitt then took questions, starting with two of the so-called newer media, Axios and Breitbart, before mixing up traditional news organisations with right-wing outlets.

‘SMART, TOUGH’

Leavitt was already a polished presence, with her social media profile mixing shots of life as a young working mother with clips of her on Fox News criticising what she called the “fake news” media.

When he appointed her shortly after his election win in November, Mr Trump said Ms Leavitt was “smart, tough” and would “excel at the podium”.

A proven Trump loyalist, Ms Leavitt will no doubt continue to aggressively defend her 78-year-old boss on the airwaves.

But it remains to be seen how often Ms Leavitt will step up to the White House podium in future.

Before Tuesday’s briefing she had only had a brief encounter with reporters on the White House driveway and a single “gaggle” on Air Force One, reserving most of her appearances for Fox News.

But she caused a stir, with conservative commentator Mary Rooke posting a picture of her driveway appearance with two similarly coiffured aides and saying: “We are finally entering our Blonde Supremacy era.”

Her first briefing showed a practised performer who was mostly comfortable exchanging jabs with the media.

Unlike her predecessor, Joe Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Ms Leavitt made no use of the heavy “binder” where spokespeople often have key lines set out.

She also avoided the fate of Mr Trump’s first press secretary, Sean Spicer, who was widely ridiculed after falsely insisting during his first briefing that the crowd for Trump’s 2017 inauguration was the largest in history.

Three other spokespeople followed during Mr Trump’s first term with one of them, Stephanie Grisham, failing to make a single appearance at the podium.

- with Agence France-Presse (AFP)

Originally published as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shakes things up during her first official briefing