Trump’s former press secretary Karoline Leavitt to join Fox News

Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down as White House press secretary in August, is joining her former boss’s favorite network, Fox News, as an on-air contributor, the channel announced on Monday.Considering that two of her predecessors from Donald Trump’s first administration, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kayleigh McEnany, had also joined Fox after leaving office, Leavitt was seen as a logical fit for Fox, on which she will begin providing commentary on 1 November.In the announcement, the Fox News chief executive, Suzanne Scott, praised Leavitt’s “authentic and sharp insight” and said her “firsthand experience in the White House and on the presidential campaign trail gives her a distinct understanding of today’s political landscape”.In her own statement, Leavitt said she was “grateful for the opportunity”, adding, “I look forward to bringing my unique perspective from my experience as White House Press Secretary, along with the same energy and candor that defined my tenure, to Fox’s millions of viewers across their many platforms.”Leavitt, 29, who was the youngest press secretary in White House history, left the administration after the birth of her second child earlier this year. She said at the time that she planned to spend more time with her family and take a role with the Trump-aligned Super Pac Maga Inc.When she announced her pregnancy in December, she became the first sitting White House press secretary to do so.During her tenure, Leavitt sought to reshape the White House media landscape. She moved to exert greater control over the press pool, the small group of journalists who closely track the president’s daily activities; created a “new media” briefing room seat, often filled by conservative commentators and pro-Trump personalities; and frequently clashed with reporters.One of Trump’s most steadfast defenders, Leavitt emerged as a key ally for the president and regularly drew praise from him during her time in the West Wing.Despite his long-term relationship with the network, which helped launch his political career, Trump still regularly criticizes Fox News for being insufficiently loyal, including a lengthy Truth Social post on Sunday criticizing the network’s morning show Fox & Friends for not airing his recent rallies. “Our people want to see our Rallies, and reports on our Rallies, on FoxNews, or they will very quickly stop watching (like I am doing right now!). Fox spends more time talking to Communists, Socialists, and Dumocrats, often without rebuttal, and MAGA is not, to put it mildly, happy.”He also repeated his familiar attacks on the left-leaning Fox News commentator Jessica Tarlov and criticized the network for cutting ties with longtime host Maria Bartiromo.But, many of Trump’s former associates – and even his daughter-in-law Lara – remain Fox News regulars. Larry Kudlow, who served as his director of the national economic council during his first administration, was recently tapped by Fox to replace Bartiromo on Fox News’ Sunday morning lineup through the midterm elections next month.