Donald Trump is being encouraged to consider former campaign aide Caroline Sunshine for the White House press secretary role, despite former colleagues describing her previous stint in his orbit as turbulent.
Sunshine reportedly broke down in tears several times while working on Trump’s 2024 campaign, at points disappearing for hours and shutting herself in her office—occasionally alongside her boyfriend. Former colleagues told Our News Outlet that she was not offered a position in the administration after Trump returned to the White House.
The 31-year-old has now surfaced as an unexpected contender to succeed Katie Zacharia, whose time as press secretary lasted only five days after she took over from Karoline Leavitt.
Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and a prominent Trump ally, reportedly promoted Sunshine’s candidacy during dinner with the president at Mar-a-Lago last weekend, according to a source close to Trump.
The dinner followed Sunshine’s appearance on Fox News, where she called for chief of staff Susie Wiles to resign. Her comments came less than a day before Wiles’s sudden departure.
One former colleague recalled Sunshine’s earlier period working for Trump this way: ‘Breakdowns in the bathroom, breakdowns in her office, kind of walking around the office with mascara running down her face. Something was obviously wrong, but no one really knew what it was or what was happening.’
The open position has prompted a behind-the-scenes lobbying effort at Mar-a-Lago, with much of the advocacy being conducted through intermediaries, the source close to the president said.
Sunshine was not present at Trump’s Florida club over the weekend, but Pulte reportedly mentioned her to Trump, Stephen Miller—who has replaced Wiles as chief of staff—and others.
Donald Trump is being urged to consider former campaign aide Caroline Sunshine (pictured at the 2018 White House Correspondents’ dinner) for press secretary
Former colleagues, however, say Sunshine’s previous time working for the president was difficult. (Pictured: Trump with former press secretary Karoline Leavitt in July)
‘You know who would be really good as press secretary? Caroline Sunshine,’ Pulte allegedly told the president.
Trump is said to have replied: ‘You think so? She does a good job on television, but she says bad things about me. She’s been doing better lately.’
Trump then sought Miller’s view, with the chief of staff responding: ‘Yeah, she’s been doing good on TV recently.’
Privately, however, Miller has a far less favorable opinion of Sunshine, according to the source. ‘Stephen hates her. Whenever her name comes up in the Oval, he piles on,’ the source said.
Miller replaced Wiles as chief of staff on Monday. He has been contacted for comment.
According to the source, Sunshine has been pursuing the role remotely by using allies who have access to Trump. ‘She keeps trying to find people to bring her up. It’s a full-court press,’ the source said.
At the same time, Sunshine spent months criticizing Trump’s handling of the war in Iran, including during appearances on CNN.
Her criticism reached a peak last Wednesday on Fox News’s ‘Jesse Watters Primetime,’ where she directly called for Wiles to step down.
‘Susie Wiles needs to resign,’ Sunshine told host Jesse Watters. ‘She needs to offer her resignation to the president before he has to ask for it.’
‘I think it was a dumb move on her part. I don’t understand what her end game is,’ a source said.
Sunshine had previously defended Trump after the election, telling Fox: ‘Tonight was not a failure for the president. Tonight was his base saying, “We still like you, we just don’t like the direction that you’re taking us in.”‘
A former Disney Channel performer, Sunshine appeared in the 2010 sitcom Shake It Up. She later served as a press assistant in Trump’s first administration and became press secretary for Vivek Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign.
Bill Pulte (left) is reportedly lobbying Trump to give Sunshine the position
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Sunshine has emerged as an unexpected candidate to replace Katie Zacharia (pictured) as White House press secretary
She joined Trump’s 2024 campaign as deputy communications director at its headquarters in downtown West Palm Beach, Florida.
Former colleagues said her visible distress became a concern. One said they personally saw Sunshine crying ‘at least two to three’ times, including in the bathroom and inside her office.
When staff members checked on her, they asked whether the problem was connected to her personal life or her work. The source said Sunshine declined to discuss it.
Her boyfriend at the time, Jack Advent, 23, was the producer responsible for Trump’s campaign TikTok videos. Trump nicknamed him ‘TikTok Jack.’ When Advent was back in West Palm Beach, he reportedly spent hours in Sunshine’s office, the source said.
Advent spent much of the campaign traveling with Trump to film the president, and colleagues praised the results of his work. ‘He produced good metrics that people were happy with,’ one said.
Sources said Sunshine locked her office door for extended periods on several occasions, sometimes while Advent was with her, at times when colleagues believed she should have been working.
‘I’d love to know what she was up to. I can’t say I know because the door was locked,’ one former colleague said.
Those who mentioned the locked office emphasized that they never saw or heard anything inappropriate between Sunshine and Advent.
The former Disney Channel actress, who appeared in Shake It Up (pictured), previously worked as a press assistant in Trump’s first-term White House
Caroline Sunshine attends the 2012 Do Something Awards
Jack Advent (left), known as TikTok Jack after receiving his nickname from Trump, was Sunshine’s boyfriend during the 2024 campaign
Caroline Sunshine at the White House in 2018 while working as a press assistant
Another source remembered a day when Sunshine did not appear to be in the office, only for colleagues to see her on television.
‘I remember sitting in the office and not seeing her at all that day, wondering where she was and why she wasn’t helping with incoming,’ the source said.
The colleague who saw Sunshine crying said she appeared to work according to her own timetable. She could seem diligent one day, the source said, then be absent for three hours at a time the next.
Sunshine was brought in to respond to press inquiries under Leavitt, who was then the campaign’s national press secretary. However, two former colleagues said she appeared more interested in television appearances.
‘She was interested in being on TV and getting public attention. She was not interested in what she was hired to do,’ one source said.
Another former colleague described her as ‘lazy’ and said: ‘She didn’t have her priorities straight. She wasn’t doing what she was hired to do.’
Former colleagues said Sunshine was eventually taken off press-inquiry duties and spent the final weeks of the campaign escorting reporters up and down the steps of the press plane.
Five former colleagues said Sunshine was not offered a role in the administration after the campaign concluded.
Sunshine, Pulte and the White House declined to comment. Advent did not respond to requests for comment.
