When Atkinson, N.H. native and former NH-01 congressional candidate Karoline Leavitt took the podium in the White House briefing room on Tuesday, she made history. She is the youngest presidential press secretary in history.
The 27-year-old Leavitt also made news, announcing a new policy on the White House press and media access.
“In keeping with this revolutionary media approach that President Trump deployed during the campaign, the Trump White House will speak to all media outlets and personalities, not just the legacy media who are seated in this room,” Leavitt told the journalists packed into the briefing room.
“This White House believes strongly in the First Amendment, so it’s why our team will work diligently to restore the press passes of the 440 journalists whose passes were wrongly revoked by the previous administration. We’re also opening up this briefing room to new media voices who produce news-related content and whose outlet is not already represented by one of the seats in this room,” she added.
“Starting today, this seat in the front of the room, which is usually occupied by the press secretary’s staff, will be called the New Media Seat.”
Despite inviting more center-right voices into the briefing, the left-leaning tilt of the legacy media ensured Leavitt’s first day featured the testy exchanges Republican administrations have come to expect at these briefings.
Peter Alexander, the chief White House correspondent for NBC News, claimed there is “uncertainty” about whether the administration’s freeze on federal grants and loans endangered direct benefits received by Americans — a claim the White House repeatedly debunked throughout the day.
“I think there’s only uncertainty in this room amongst the media,” Leavitt shot back.
“And I want to make that very clear to any Americans who are watching at home who may be a little bit confused about some of the media reporting. This administration, if you are receiving individual assistance from the federal government, you will still continue to receive that. However, it is the responsibility of this president and this administration to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” she added.
(A federal judge blocked the order just before it went into effect.)
Despite her age, Leavitt is no newcomer to interacting with the media. She worked in the communications department of the first Trump White House and then served as spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Trump’s nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
In 2022, she won a surprise victory in the GOP primary to take on Rep. Chris Pappas in a campaign where she earned kudos for her handling of the media. And last year she served as the national press secretary for Trump’s successful presidential campaign.
Leavitt’s performance won praise from people who’ve had the job before.
“A press secretary who has access to the president and can answer questions — after four years, you might have forgotten that’s how it supposed to work,” said former Trump spokesperson Sean Spicer. “Well done, Karoline Leavitt.”
During Tuesday’s press briefing, Zeke Miller with the Associated Press asked Leavitt, “Do you view yourself and your role as advocating on behalf of the president, or providing the unvarnished truth that is, not to lie, not to obfuscate to the American people?”
“I commit to telling the truth from this podium every single day. I commit to speaking on behalf of the President of the United States. That is my job,” Leavitt answered.
She was also asked if reporters should expect daily press briefings. Leavitt pointed out that, with Trump nearly omnipresent in the media, there wasn’t as much need for the briefings as when President Joe Biden was avoiding reporters.
“The president is the best spokesperson that this White House has,” Leavitt said.
But not to worry, she added.
“I can assure you that you will be hearing from both him and from me as much as possible.”