White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt used a Thursday appearance at a Turning Point USA event to lavish praise on President Donald Trump while taking a pointed swipe at the Biden administration’s communications team — remarks that come days after Mr. Trump jokingly questioned her job performance.
“He just lays it on the table. There’s no guessing. There’s no questioning. There’s no spin,” Leavitt, 28, told Erika Kirk on April 2, describing the 79-year-old president’s candor. “Everything he says is exactly how he feels. There’s no guessing, and he’s honest and authentic about what he believes, and it makes my job much easier.” The press secretary added that she admires Mr. Trump’s appetite for information, saying she “always wants to be the most well-read person in the room” but that “Donald Trump always is.”
Leavitt contrasted that accessibility with the experience of her predecessor in the role, Karine Jean-Pierre, suggesting Jean-Pierre had difficulty because she “wasn’t able to communicate with her boss in a very open and transparent way.” Jean-Pierre had served as White House press secretary after taking over from Jen Psaki in 2022 and remained in the role through the end of President Joe Biden’s administration.
The compliments came shortly after a moment of public awkwardness: two days earlier Mr. Trump told reporters that Leavitt “was doing a terrible job.” A White House representative later said the president’s comment had been made in jest. It was not the first time Mr. Trump has publicly mused about replacing his spokeswoman; in October he asked reporters, “How’s Karoline doing? Is she doing good? Should Karoline be replaced?”
Leavitt, who announced she is expecting her second child, said during the Turning Point appearance that the president’s directness eases the demands of her job. She is due to step away from the press secretary role in May to welcome the new baby with her husband, Nicholas Riccio.
The remarks are the latest in a string of high-profile public moments for the Trump White House, where blunt public praise, internal upheavals and abrupt personnel changes have frequently made headlines. For Leavitt, who has navigated both public criticism and the spotlight of managing communications for a combative presidency, the April 2 comments underscored her message that Mr. Trump’s style of directness is a deliberate contrast with the communications approaches of his predecessors.