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Karoline Leavitt to quit as White House press secretary · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: She has been a fiery defender of Donald Trump's administration,
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  Speaker 1: but not for much longer, at least in public. White
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  Speaker 1: House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt says she's quitting at the
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  Speaker 1: end of the month. That's twenty eight year old, is
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  Speaker 1: the youngest person to hold the job now. She says
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  Speaker 1: she's leaving to spend more time with her two young children,
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  Speaker 1: although Trump says she'll be one of his top outside advisors.
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  Speaker 1: Levitt was unapologetic in berating the White House Press Corps,
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  Speaker 1: clashing repeatedly with journalists from what she called the fake
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  Speaker 1: news media. Here's a samp.
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  Speaker 2: If we feel that there are lies being pushed by
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  Speaker 2: Alllett's in this room, we are going to hold those
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  Speaker 2: lies accountable.
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  Speaker 3: He calls out fake.
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  Speaker 2: News when he sees it.
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  Speaker 1: He gets frustrated with reporters when.
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  Speaker 4: You lie about him.
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  Speaker 2: It is a fact that the body of water off
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  Speaker 2: the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm not sure why news outlets don't want to
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  Speaker 2: call it.
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  Speaker 4: That does political.
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  Speaker 2: Violence from a systemic demonization of him and his supporters
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  Speaker 2: by commentators, yes, by elected members of the Democrat Party.
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  Speaker 3: And even some in the media.
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  Speaker 2: Why was Renee Good unfortunately and tragically killed.
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  Speaker 3: Are you asking me my opinion because an ice agendacted recklessly.
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  Speaker 2: And children justicifiable? Oh okay, so you're a biased reporter
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  Speaker 2: with a left wing opinion. Yeah, because you're a left
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  Speaker 2: wing hack.
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  Speaker 4: You're not a reporter.
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  Speaker 2: You're posing in this room as a journalist.
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  Speaker 1: All right, from the Gulf of America to left wing hacks.
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  Speaker 1: That was a sample of Caroline Levitt's attacks on the
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  Speaker 1: mainstream media. Earlier, I spoke to our Washington DC correspondent
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  Speaker 1: Misha Komaedowski about how she changed the way journalists cover
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  Speaker 1: the White House.
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  Speaker 4: Well Brent. During her time as Press Secretary, more journalists
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  Speaker 4: started attending press briefings in that very small room, while
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  Speaker 4: the number of seats stayed the same. It might seem
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  Speaker 4: extremely large, but it's actually much smaller in real life.
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  Speaker 4: We also saw bloggers, bloggers, mostly conservative influencers, get access
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  Speaker 4: to the briefing room, with some even starting their questions
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  Speaker 4: by praising President Trump. She, I have to say, fundamentally
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  Speaker 4: changed the dynamic between the White House and the press boort.
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  Speaker 4: She is much more aggressive in confronting reporters, as we
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  Speaker 4: just heard She is especially like more confronting against reporters
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  Speaker 4: who she believes are hostile to the administration. That's what
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  Speaker 4: we've just heard as well, and that has made press
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  Speaker 4: briefings more openly combative, I have to say, but I
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  Speaker 4: think the bigger change is that journalists have had to
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  Speaker 4: adapt to a White House that is much more willing
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  Speaker 4: to challenge. I have to say, the premise of the
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  Speaker 4: question attack the credibility of individual reporters and fellow journalists,
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  Speaker 4: and used the briefing room as a platform to speak
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  Speaker 4: directly to the president's supporters. She has been an extremely
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  Speaker 4: loyal ally of President Trump, your vibe brand, And I've
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  Speaker 4: spoken with with a couple of folks from the White
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  Speaker 4: House who say that they don't know they have no
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  Speaker 4: idea of who could fill her shoes next.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and she's saying that this is about spending more
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  Speaker 1: time with her family, But you know, she just recently
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  Speaker 1: came back from maternity leave, and there are reports that
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  Speaker 1: she had been considering leaving for some time. What are
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  Speaker 1: you hearing about what drove this decision.
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  Speaker 4: Well, the biggest immediate factor appears to be the reality
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  Speaker 4: of returning from maternity leave and trying to balance two
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  Speaker 4: young children with one of the most demanding, I have
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  Speaker 4: to say jobs in Washington.
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  Speaker 1: D C.
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  Speaker 4: She herself said that after returning, she realized she could
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  Speaker 4: not give her children enough attention what they deserve while
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  Speaker 4: giving the job the constant time and energy it requires.
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  Speaker 4: But President Trump has made clear she will remain a
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  Speaker 4: close outside adviser, So it's not an accent from the
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  Speaker 4: Trump world in its entirety. It seems it's more like
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  Speaker 4: a move away from the daily grind of that press
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  Speaker 4: briefing room.
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  Speaker 1: What do you foresee in her immediate future and I'm
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  Speaker 1: thinking about the midterm elections that are rapidly approaching.
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  Speaker 4: For her future, there is a well established track record
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  Speaker 4: of former White House Press secretaries moving into television. Just
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  Speaker 4: checking here, Jen Saki, who served under the Biden administration,
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  Speaker 4: is now a host on MS now, while Kaylee mckinnany,
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  Speaker 4: who served under President Trump during his first term, she
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  Speaker 4: is a Fox News host. So it wouldn't be surprising
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  Speaker 4: to see Caroline Levitt remain in Trump's orbit as say
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  Speaker 4: Fox News contributor or take on a larger role in
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  Speaker 4: conservative in conservative media.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll be watching to see what happens to her
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  Speaker 1: bis Kamandotski is always me. She'll appreciate your reporting. Thank you.
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  Speaker 3: Let's bring in Mark Shanahan from Surrey University here. He
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  Speaker 3: specializes in US presidential politics. Mark, what do you make
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  Speaker 3: of Caroline Levitt quitting as White House Press Secretary? Does
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  Speaker 3: this come as a surprise?
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  Speaker 2: I think the timing is a bit of a surprise here.
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  Speaker 2: She went off on maternity leave in April, and if
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  Speaker 2: she decided to step down at that point, I don't
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  Speaker 2: think that would have been too much of a surprise.
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  Speaker 2: Even if she'd decided in July that she wasn't coming back.
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  Speaker 2: I think people would have accepted that. But she's come back,
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  Speaker 2: and she's beIN back for about a month and has
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  Speaker 2: now quits. L said that she's quitting at the end
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  Speaker 2: of this month. So yeah, there is a little bit
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  Speaker 2: of a surprise to that, and I wonder if there
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  Speaker 2: may be a story behind it.
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  Speaker 3: What does this mean for President Trump? How much did
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  Speaker 3: he rely on Levitt as a spokesperson and advisor.
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  Speaker 2: It means quite a lot. Actually, this will be quite
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  Speaker 2: a big loss for him in the first term in
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  Speaker 2: the White House. We just got used to the revolving door.
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  Speaker 2: People not being imposed for very long at all. Sarah
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  Speaker 2: Huckabee Saunders, actually the Press secretary who was there for
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  Speaker 2: two years, is the longest serving press secretary under Trump.
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  Speaker 2: Caroline Levitt was in the room where it happened. She
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  Speaker 2: was in the major meeting. She saw what was going
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  Speaker 2: on and became an excellent surrogate for Trump when she
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  Speaker 2: came into the press briefing room and stood up to
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  Speaker 2: that podium. She really was very good at mimicking the
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  Speaker 2: style and the tone of her boss and delivering his
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  Speaker 2: messages in quite a powerful way. Now, it's really interesting
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  Speaker 2: listening to her. The truth crosses paths with her on occasion,
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  Speaker 2: but she will make statements in the way that the
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  Speaker 2: president does, and the truth gets relegated to second bet.
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  Speaker 2: She certainly is not there to answer the media's questions
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  Speaker 2: or to enable them to hold the president to account.
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  Speaker 2: She is there to give this administration's message and to
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  Speaker 2: drive it home hard, and she was very good at that.
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  Speaker 3: Well must be said that Caroline Clevitt is a prominent
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  Speaker 3: voice in the Republican Party, in the mega movement in
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  Speaker 3: her own right. She's run for Congress before. Can we
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  Speaker 3: expect her to continue pursuing a political career.
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure she will. There is virtually nobody who speaks
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  Speaker 2: Maga in the way that she does. She really has
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  Speaker 2: the style and the tone and has caught the ear
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  Speaker 2: of the Maga audience, who largely love her. As you say,
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  Speaker 2: she ran for Congress in twenty twenty two. She was unsuccessful,
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  Speaker 2: but that was in a Democrat district in New Hampshire.
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  Speaker 2: I suspect in a few years time she will reappear
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  Speaker 2: on the political stage. I don't think she'll go I'm
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  Speaker 2: sure she's got a career in conservative media before that,
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  Speaker 2: but I think she will be back in politics. And
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  Speaker 2: if she finds the right district, and I'm sure if
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  Speaker 2: the trumpest wing of Republicanism is still riding high at
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  Speaker 2: the time, they will find her the right district, she
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  Speaker 2: will be back in Congress. Then it is interesting to
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  Speaker 2: see what's the Levit message, what's Levit policy, Because at
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  Speaker 2: the moment we are finding her to be very very
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  Speaker 2: good at parroting the thoughts and ideas of somebody else.
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  Speaker 2: So how does she stand on her own?
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  Speaker 3: So don't write her off any idea who the next
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  Speaker 3: White House Press Secretary.
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  Speaker 4: Might be.
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  Speaker 2: Tricky one to call, I wouldn't look too much further
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  Speaker 2: than Fox TV. Trump has quite the ponchamp for drawing
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  Speaker 2: people in from that particular right wing channel to act
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  Speaker 2: within his cabinets and to take up some of the
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  Speaker 2: interesting jobs around him. But if we look at Trump
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  Speaker 2: two point zero and this last year, he has sacked
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  Speaker 2: or forced to resign five prominent women now and I
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  Speaker 2: think all or all but one have been replaced by men.
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  Speaker 2: So it wouldn't surprise me if the next Press Secretary
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  Speaker 2: was a man, and if he came from a right
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  Speaker 2: leaning broadcast background.
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  Speaker 3: Now, Donald Trump says that Levitt will remain a top
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  Speaker 3: outside advisor and continue to play a role in the
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  Speaker 3: Republican Party ahead of the midterms. Could she actually end
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  Speaker 3: up being more influential outside the White House than she
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  Speaker 3: has been inside.
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  Speaker 2: If she has the guardrails taken off her, if she
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  Speaker 2: doesn't just have to spout the President's message, it could
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  Speaker 2: be quite interesting to hear what she has to say.
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  Speaker 2: She has been the one in the room. As I
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  Speaker 2: said before, She's been very close to the President. She
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  Speaker 2: has had his ear. He tends to say that people
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  Speaker 2: will be adviss to him when they leave the White House.
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  Speaker 2: It doesn't tend to happen very often, but I'm sure
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  Speaker 2: the conservative media will be at her door very very quickly,
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  Speaker 2: looking for her to take parts in their shows to
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  Speaker 2: try and boost the Republican Party as it heads towards
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  Speaker 2: the midterms. I'm sure a lot of candidates would like
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  Speaker 2: to have her out on the stump with them. Trump
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  Speaker 2: isn't going to be on the ticket this time round,
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  Speaker 2: but he is going to dominate this election. If she
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  Speaker 2: can be something of a Trump whisperer out there, yes,
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  Speaker 2: she could be influential, and I'm sure she will be.
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  Speaker 3: Mark, Thank you very much. That was Mark Shanahan from
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  Speaker 3: Surrey University.