President Donald Trump is in no hurry to name a successor to departing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, but the vacancy has already triggered a scramble among ambitious MAGA-aligned figures eager to claim the influential position.
Leavitt announced on August 12 that she planned to leave the White House to spend more time with her two young children, Nico, 2, and four-month-old Viviana.
Since her departure on August 27, the administration has yet to announce who will take over the role.
Among the names circulating inside the West Wing are CNN commentator Scott Jennings, acting US Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba and former Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo.
Other potential contenders include White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly, senior Trump campaign adviser Danielle Alvarez, and former first-term staffers Roma Daravi and Caroline Sunshine.
Leavitt, meanwhile, remains involved in the process. She has joined Trump’s political operation, MAGA Inc., and is serving as a sounding board as the president weighs candidates to replace her.
The open position has prompted several would-be press secretaries to make their case, with West Wing officials taking note of those seeking to improve their chances.
“A lot of people are pitching themselves,” a Trump adviser said, pointing to Jennings and Habba, Trump’s former personal attorney and the acting US Attorney for the District of New Jersey, as two figures who have openly pursued the job.
Caroline Sunshine, 31, a former 2024 Trump campaign aide, regularly appears on Fox News and CNN to comment on White House actions
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Karoline Leavitt have been advising the president on his choice for the next press secretary
The Daily Mail was first to report that Jennings had dinner with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles shortly after Leavitt announced her departure, making him an early frontrunner.
Sources told the Mail that Wiles was pursuing Jennings for the position and that the job could be his if he wanted it. That momentum changed after White House personnel reviewed some of the CNN commentator’s earlier remarks about Trump.
Soon after reports suggested Jennings might become the next press secretary, his past criticism of Trump’s role in the January 6 attack began circulating among White House officials.
“President Donald Trump caused this insurrection with his lies and conspiracy theories about the election process being rigged against him,” Jennings wrote in a CNN op-ed published on the day of the 2021 Capitol riot.
Former Congressman Matt Gaetz highlighted the article’s headline in a post, writing: “Scott Jennings for press secretary is a bad idea.”
Gaetz’s criticism did not go unnoticed among Trump allies.
“There’s no bad blood between the two, just wouldn’t be workable given his last comments,” a Trump-world insider said of Jennings’s prospects.
Jennings has since expressed regret over his earlier comments about Trump. In a 2024 Los Angeles Times op-ed, he wrote: “I was wrong.”
Scott Jennings poses with Trump aboard Air Force One as the president holds up a photograph of the pundit’s book about the commander-in-chief
His close relationship with Senator Mitch McConnell, an outspoken Trump critic, also did little to strengthen his candidacy.
Jennings recently defended McConnell’s multi-month absence from Congress as he dealt with health issues resulting from a fall and pneumonia.
His defense of the senator has further hurt his chances of securing the role, an insider said.
‘Trump was turned off by the McConnell stuff and his past comments on January 6,’ a source familiar with the president’s thinking told Our News Outlet.
‘And the president also did say, “Look, he’s doing great for us on CNN. Maybe he’s more valuable there.”‘
Jennings declined to comment.
Meanwhile Habba, the acting US Attorney for the District of New Jersey, has also put herself forward for the role, multiple sources said.
Acting US Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba, Trump’s personal lawyer, has also been floated within the West Wing as a potential replacement for Leavitt
While she said in mid-August that she is ‘not in the running for any job,’ Habba also said that if she was asked to serve, she would.
‘Of course I would do it,’ she told conservative pundit Benny Johnson.
‘Habba has a lot of connections within the White House, but the president is uninterested in giving her another job,’ a source shared.
‘He kind of feels like she has flamed out at the opportunities he’s given her in the past. So I would say there’s like a zero percent chance of that happening.’
A spokesperson for Habba did not respond to Our News Outlet’s request for comment.
Former Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo has also been floated within the West Wing as a potential candidate, according to multiple sources, after her shock departure from the network.
The longtime host left the network after over 12 years of work in early September, days after Leavitt’s departure.
Bartiromo and Trump have a friendly rapport. She has interviewed the president numerous times, and he has routinely praised her reporting on social media
She allegedly leaked internal Fox material with the White House after network executives were skeptical of election-related claims the president made in a White House address in July, the New York Times reported.
The Daily Mail contacted her lawyer for comment.
While conversations about Bartiromo joining the White House staff have rippled through the West Wing, it is unclear if she has had any meetings for the role, the sources said.
Those familiar with the ongoing discussions about replacing Leavitt have also noticed several individuals ‘auditioning’ for the role.
Roma Daravi, the vice president of public relations for the Kennedy Center and an alumna of Trump’s first term, has been posting clips defending the president since the outgoing press secretary announced her departure.
Her efforts have caught the attention of some in the president’s orbit, as has Caroline Sunshine, a Disney Channel child actress who starred alongside Zendaya before entering politics.
She began her political career interning for Kevin McCarthy and then in the first Trump White House in 2018, before swiftly landing a job as an assistant in the press office.
The blonde 31-year-old has more recently become a recognizable pundit on CNN, vociferously defending the president during roundtable discussions and posting on X about his policy victories and comedic instinct.
‘They are auditioning, but the president has not expressed real interest in either of them,’ a source said, adding it’s ‘apparent to everyone in the White House.’
One Trump adviser warned against selecting Sunshine, accusing her of being ‘disloyal’ to Trump in the past, noting her past criticism of the US-Israel strikes in Iran in 2025. ‘I don’t agree with President Trump’s decision tonight,’ Sunshine wrote on X at the time.
Sunshine hit back at the whispers, telling Our News Outlet in a statement: ‘White House officials are spending their days tracking my TV hits, tweets, and hairstyles? Perhaps if the White House was 100 percent focused on correcting the fake news about the President, he’d be getting better press. Get back to work.’
Roma Daravi, a former Trump aide during his first term and current spokeswoman for the Kennedy Center, is thought to be angling for the press secretary role, sources shared
Senior 2024 Trump campaign adviser Danielle Alvarez is also rumored to be among the names of possible Leavitt replacements
Sources also point out that Trump could choose someone from within his own operations.
Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser on Trump’s 2024 campaign and Freedom 250 spokeswoman, has also been floated as a possible press secretary contender.
So too has White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly, Leavitt’s top deputy who took on an expanded portfolio during the former press secretary’s maternity leave earlier this year.
Though she has not held a briefing, past administrations have typically promoted internally when a press secretary leaves, as was the case for Biden’s spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre and Trump’s first-term mouthpiece Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
But while the names continue to circulate, those in the president’s orbit do not believe Trump feels pressed for time because he has not yet found the right person.
‘There’s no rush,’ a Trump adviser told Our News Outlet about the ongoing search. ‘Right now, he has not made a decision.’
Multiple Trump insiders openly questioned whether Trump needs a replacement at all, noting his constant media appearances from the Oval Office, Air Force One, or while he is on the road.
‘He’s going to be on the road a lot, and when he’s on the road there are no briefings in general,’ another Trump world insider shared, explaining that observers should expect fewer formal briefings between now and the midterms.
Both sources noted that any candidate to replace Leavitt must be someone the president can spend a lot of time with, given that the role of presidential spokesperson is a 24/7 job for a highly demanding boss.
‘Look and loyalty matter to the president,’ the insider shared, adding that the role is expected to go to a woman, with the caveat that Trump is prone to changing his mind.
Whoever is selected must also maintain a combative aptitude for taking on the press, or as those in the White House call it, ‘fake news.’
Karoline Leavitt’s top deputy, Anna Kelly, is also a name that has been floated for the role
Having just banned CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House grounds, accusing them of peddling ‘fake’ reports, the next press secretary must sing the same tune and be ready to combat the media at a moment’s notice.
The administration, which refers to itself as the ‘most transparent in history’, previously banned AP from the White House press pool last year before a federal judge ordered for the outlet’s access to be restored.
While a rotating cast of Trump’s cabinet is prepared to hold down the fort, the president indicated that he ‘may have developed’ a choice for press secretary during his recent trip to Ireland.
However, several Trump insiders cast doubt on the remarks, one noting the president was just ‘riffing’ and hasn’t actually come to a determination.
‘The president will choose the best candidate for the job,’ White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
‘There are no announcements at this time. In the meantime, cabinet secretaries and administration officials will continue to hold briefings.’
It will be immensely difficult to replace Leavitt, whose ability to speak fluent Trump and political instincts earned her rave reviews as the White House’s youngest ever press secretary.
‘Karoline will be hard to replace,’ Republican strategist of Watchtower Strategy Brooke Singman told Our News Outlet. ‘People often forget that Karoline was once a politician herself.
‘That political experience gave her unique skills and perspective at the podium that you don’t necessarily get from someone whose career has been entirely in communications.’
Whoever he chooses, it is clear that Trump is in no hurry, and insiders indicate that the post could even stay vacant until after the November elections.
