During her time behind the White House podium, departing Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has gained a reputation for her sharp retorts to reporters, an echo of President Donald Trump’s contentious relationship with the press.
Leavitt will step down from her role at the White House at the end of the month to spend more time with her family, Trump announced on Wednesday—”a decision,” he said in a Truth Social post, “I totally understand and respect!” He added that she “will now be one of my top outside advisors, and an influential voice within the Republican Party.”
In her own social media post on Wednesday, Leavitt called the White House Press Secretary role “the honor and adventure of a lifetime” and went on to thank the President.
“Most of all, I am thankful to the President for entrusting me with the distinct privilege of speaking on his behalf at the White House podium,” she said. “I have relished holding the liberal media accountable and ensuring the American people hear the truth about President Trump’s successes.”
Here are some of the most notable moments of Leavitt going head-to-head with the press in the year and a half she has served in her role.
During a press briefing in March 2025, Leavitt had a heated exchange with Josh Boak, a reporter at The Associated Press, after he asked why Trump was prioritizing “tax hikes in the form of tariffs” rather than the tax cuts he vowed to enact while he was campaigning during the 2024 election.
“He’s actually not implementing tax hikes. Tariffs are a tax hike on foreign countries that, again, have been ripping us off,” Leavitt replied. “Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people, and the President is a staunch advocate of tax cuts.”
Boak pushed back by saying: “I’m sorry, have you ever paid a tariff? Because I have. They don’t get charged on foreign companies; they get charged on the importers.”
Leavitt responded by arguing that tariffs would be beneficial for Americans, before adding that Boak was being “insulting.”
“I think it’s insulting that you’re trying to test my knowledge of economics, and the decision that this President has made,” she said. “I now regret giving a question to The Associated Press.”
At a White House press briefing in June 2025, NOTUS reporter Jasmine Wright asked Leavitt to “clarify what kind of protest President Trump does support or find acceptable.” The question came after Trump had issued a warning to potential protesters ahead of the upcoming military parade in the nation’s capital: “For those people that want to protest, they’re going to be met with very big force.”
Leavitt said that Trump “absolutely supports peaceful protests. He supports the First Amendment,” but added that “he does not support violence of any kind.”
Wright then asked whether the President would allow peaceful protests the day of the military parade in the nation’s capital. Leavitt shot back: “Of course the President supports peaceful protests. What a stupid question.”
In February, Leavitt abruptly ended a White House press briefing after a reporter asked whether the White House supported Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The question came after Lutnick said earlier that same day in front of a Senate panel that he had visited the private island of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2012—despite the fact that he had previously claimed to have ended his relationship with Epstein years before.
Leavitt responded by saying that the Commerce Secretary is “a very important member of President Trump’s team” and that Trump “fully supports” him. She then slammed the journalists in the room for their questions.