Jamaine Punzalan

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><br/></div><div><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-0" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/C1j62GOLuJE/embed/captioned/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=719&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A1334792.3999999762%2C%22ls%22%3A1334565.3999999762%2C%22le%22%3A1334647.8999999762%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="654" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-0" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px 0px 12px;min-width:326px;padding:0px"></iframe></div><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><div><br/></div><p>WASHINGTON, United States — President Donald Trump named her as the youngest White House press secretary in history. And Karoline Leavitt unveiled a Gen Z-style shake up as she made her debut at the famed podium Tuesday.</p><p>The 27-year-old immediately announced that she was opening up the briefing room to TikTokers and creating a seat for &quot;new media,&quot; echoing her boss&#x27;s wider overhaul of the US government.</p><p>After Trump focused on podcasters in his election victory and bashed &quot;legacy&quot; news organizations, Leavitt said she would be following his &quot;revolutionary media approach.&quot;</p><p>But some things don&#x27;t change. Leavitt admitted that the garrulous former reality TV star Trump will end up taking much of the limelight himself.</p><p>&quot;The president is the best spokesperson that this White House has,&quot; Leavitt said in her first briefing since Trump&#x27;s inauguration eight days ago.</p><p>&quot;And I can assure you that you will be hearing from both him and me as much as possible.&quot;</p><p>As reporters&#x27; hands shot up, Leavitt then took questions, starting with two of the so-called new media, Axios and Breitbart, before mixing up traditional news organizations with right-wing outlets.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;SMART, TOUGH&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>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 going after the &quot;fake news&quot; media.</p><p>Trump said when he appointed her shortly after his election win in November that Leavitt was &quot;smart, tough&quot; and would &quot;excel at the podium.&quot;</p><p>And Leavitt is nothing if not a Trump loyalist.</p><p>Raised in New Hampshire, where her family ran an ice cream shop, she sent a letter to her university newspaper in 2017 to protest against the fact that a professor had criticized Trump in class.</p><p>Eight years later she has had a meteoric rise through the ranks of Trumpworld, thanks partly to her aggressive defense of her 78-year-old boss on the airwaves.</p><p>A veteran of the press office in his first term, she unsuccessfully ran for a seat in Congress in New Hampshire in 2022 on a pro-Trump, pro-gun ownership platform.</p><p>An Instagram post at the time showed her firing a machinegun on a range with the caption: &quot;@joebiden come and take it&quot;, referring to then-president Joe Biden.</p><p>Then her steely appearances on television as Trump&#x27;s 2024 campaign spokeswoman earned her the job as press secretary.</p><p>In one notable exchange, a CNN interviewer cut Leavitt off after she criticized the network&#x27;s moderators chosen to oversee a <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/6/28/biden-trump-face-off-in-first-us-presidential-race-debate-2310">debate between Trump and Biden.</a><br/><br/><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/1/16/biden-warns-us-soul-at-stake-with-trump-on-brink-of-power-0948">Biden warns of Trump &#x27;oligarchy&#x27; in dark farewell speech</a></p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;WONDER WOMAN&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Her loyalty was such that she returned to work four days after the birth of her first child when <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/7/14/former-us-president-donald-trump-survives-assasination-attempt-1316">Trump survived an assassination </a>attempt at a political rally last June.</p><p>&quot;I looked at my husband and said, &#x27;Looks like I&#x27;m going back to work,&#x27;&quot; Leavitt told The Conservateur magazine in an article titled &quot;Wonder Woman.&quot;</p><p>It remains to be seen how often Leavitt will step up to the podium in future.</p><p>Before the briefing she had only had a brief encounter with reporters on the White House driveway and a single &quot;gaggle&quot; on Air Force One, reserving most of her appearances for Fox News.</p><p>But she has still caused a stir, with conservative commentator Mary Rooke posting a picture of her driveway appearance with two similarly coiffed aides and saying: &quot;We are finally entering our Blonde Supremacy era.&quot;</p><p>Her first briefing showed a practiced performer who was mostly comfortable exchanging jabs with the media.</p><p>Unlike her predecessor, Biden&#x27;s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, she made no use of the heavy &quot;binder&quot; where spokespeople often have key lines set out.</p><p>She also avoided the fate of Trump&#x27;s first press secretary, Sean Spicer, who was widely ridiculed after falsely insisting during his first briefing that the crowd for Trump&#x27;s 2017 inauguration was the largest history.</p><p>Three other spokespeople followed during Trump&#x27;s first term with one of them, Stephanie Grisham, failing to make a single appearance at the podium.</p><div><strong>—By Danny Kemp, Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BoEANx7n3Pg?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>The 27-year-old immediately announced that she was opening up the briefing room to TikTokers and creating a seat for "new media."</p>

The 27-year-old immediately announced that she was opening up the briefing room to TikTokers and creating a seat for "new media."

Trump's 'Gen Z' press secretary makes podium debut

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Trump's 'Gen Z' press secretary makes podium debut

Agence France-Presse

Published Jan 29, 2025 11:37 AM PHT

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Karoline Leavitt

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