She’s been thrown off CNN for calling it a ‘hostile environment,’ reamed out journalists for negative coverage, and at the tender age of 27 is already a veteran of a Trump administration.
Now Karoline Leavitt is in pole position to be Donald Trump’s White House press secretary if he wins the election.
Multiple figures in Trump world said she had impressed the former president and was favorite to become the public face of a future administration.
‘She talks to everybody, not just Fox News, but goes on TV and takes incoming, which is a big part of the job, and then she hits back and is a very, very effective messenger,’ said a Trump confidant, who was granted anonymity to discuss staffing issues.
‘The president trusts her and trust is everything with him.’
Karoline Leavitt and her baby son Niko in an Instagram picture posted two weeks after she gave birth in July
Leavitt attending a Miami Heat game at the Kaseya Center in Florida last year
Karoline Leavitt is frontrunner to become Donald Trump’s White House press secretary
No-one knows who Trump will pick. And since his election triumph last week a number of other figures have put themselves in the frame.
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Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba suddenly appeared in headlines this week as a contender, much to the surprise of the president-elect’s inner circle.
Reports cited her fiery defense of Trump during his multiple legal battles and ease in front of the camera as propelling her into contention.
Yet her sudden emergence as a contender raised eyebrows in Trump World, which knows that the best way to get ruled out of a job is to begin jockeying for it.
In contrast, Leavitt has kept a low-profile during the past couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, there is no shortage of other possible names from within the campaign and outside.
Former adviser Bryan Lanza (who has told friends that he has other plans), CNN analyst and flamethrower Scott Jennings, and political pundit Katie Pavlich have all been mentioned as possibles.
Then there is Steven Cheung, who as campaign communications director was the first port of call for reporters looking for comment. But he is a rare presence on television and is seen as more likely to take an off-camera position.
And senior adviser Jason Miller won plaudits for managing messaging.
But a friend of Trump told DailyMail.com that Leavitt’s age meant she was far better suited to the grinding 14-hour days expected of a press secretary.
‘And Trump loves the way she takes incoming on CNN and then punches back,’ he said. ‘She’s a star.’
Trump lawyer Alina Habba suddenly emerged as a contender for the job this week, despite not having worked in communications before
CNN host Kasie Hunt shortly before shutting down Leavitt
After working at the Trump White House, Leavitt ran for election in New Hampshire’s first Congressional district but lost to the Democratic incumbent
Leavitt, seen here second from the right next to lawyer Alina Habba, was a familiar sight in the New York courtroom where Trump was on trial earlier this year
The Trump campaign declined to comment and Leavitt turned down an interview request.
But she already has a résumé filled with relevant experience.
She knows her way around the White House. Like many junior members of the press shop, she initially joined the office of presidential correspondence, helping process and reply to incoming mail, after graduating from Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.
From there she joined the communications team under Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany towards the end of Trump’s first term.
When he left office she went to work for high-profile New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, before making her own run for Congress in New Hampshire, the state where she grew up scooping ice cream at her parents’ store.
Her effort to become the youngest woman ever elected to Congress fell 15,000 votes short in the 2022 midterms, when an expected red wave failed to materialize.
She was back in the Trump fold within weeks, joining an allied group before linking up with the campaign itself earlier this year, quickly becoming a fixture on television despite being pregnant with her first child.
That did nothing to tame her fiery, bomb-throwing style.
Leavitt appearing on Fox News with her former White House boss Kayleigh McEnany
Leavitt (far left) on stage with key members of Trump world on the night of the New Hampshire primary in Nashua, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Eric and Lara Trump, Sen. Tim Scott and former presidential runner Vivek Ramaswamy
In June, she clashed with CNN presenter Kasie Hunt, who took her off air after they argued about whether the network’s journalists could be neutral moderators in the upcoming debate.
Leavitt said the debate would be a ‘hostile environment’ for Trump, and that moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash had been ‘biased’ against him in the past.
‘Ma’am, I’m going to stop this interview if you continue to attack my colleagues,’ said Hunt.
After another back and forth, Hunt ended their conversation and the camera cut away abruptly.
Two weeks later Leavitt and her husband Nick became parents to baby Nicholas, little realizing that the election was about to enter its most tumultuous period yet.
‘I had just brought my newborn, my three-day-old baby home from the hospital,’ she told The Conservateur, a website for conservative women.
‘And I said, “I’m going to turn on the television and watch the rally today.'”
The date was Saturday, July 13. A day later she was back fielding questions on television.
‘The president literally put his life on the line to win this election,’ she said. ‘The least I could do is get back to work quickly.’