Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is joining Fox News Channel as an on-air contributor, the network announced Monday. She starts November 1 and will provide commentary across Fox News Media platforms.
Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott announced the hire, praising Leavitt's experience in and around the Trump White House. "Karoline's firsthand experience in the White House and on the presidential campaign trail gives her a distinct understanding of today's governmental complexities," Scott said in a statement. "We look forward to her providing our audience with authentic and sharp insight across all FOX News Media platforms."
Leavitt, 29, served as the 36th White House press secretary from January 2025 until August 2026, when she stepped down from the role. She confirmed her departure in a post on X, calling it a "bittersweet decision" after concluding she could not balance the demands of the briefing room with being the mother she wants to be to her two young children. She became the youngest White House press secretary in history and the first sitting press secretary to announce a pregnancy while serving in the role.
"I am grateful for the opportunity to continue appearing on Fox News Channel as an official member of the extraordinary team at FOX News Media," Leavitt said. "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's path to the podium ran through the movement she now returns to as a commentator. She served as a spokesperson for MAGA Inc. before joining Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, then followed him into the West Wing. Her first administration roles included presidential writer and assistant press secretary. In 2022 she ran as the Republican candidate for Congress in New Hampshire's 1st Congressional District, and she previously served as communications director for then-House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik. She graduated from Saint Anselm College.
What She Did in the Briefing Room
During her tenure, Leavitt moved to reshape the White House media landscape. She tightened control over the press pool, the small group of journalists who track the president's daily activities, and created a "new media" briefing room seat often filled by conservative commentators and pro-Trump personalities. She regularly clashed with reporters and drew praise from the president for her defense of his agenda.
According to The Guardian, Leavitt was widely seen inside conservative media as a logical fit for Fox. Two of her predecessors from Trump's first administration, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kayleigh McEnany, also joined the network after leaving office. Sanders went on to become governor of Arkansas; McEnany became a Fox co-host.
Fox has continued staffing up with Trump-world figures ahead of next month's midterm elections. Larry Kudlow, who served as director of the National Economic Council during Trump's first term, was recently tapped to fill the Sunday morning lineup slot previously held by Maria Bartiromo through the midterms, according to The Guardian.
The announcement drew coverage across the mainstream press, with CNN noting Leavitt is stepping into the contributor role weeks after leaving the administration to focus on her family, and The New York Times describing her as a "fierce and nimble speaker" and the third of Trump's former press secretaries to join the cable news network. Breitbart first reported the network's announcement.
It is not yet known which specific Fox programs Leavitt will appear on or how frequently she will be on air. Her start date of November 1 lands four days before the midterm elections, putting her on the network's airwaves during the closing stretch of the campaign cycle.
Our Take
The Left spent two years trying to paint Karoline Leavitt as the villain of the briefing room. What they actually produced was the most effective communicator to stand behind that podium in a generation, and now she's taking that talent somewhere the legacy media can't control the microphone. Fox didn't hire a former official looking for a soft landing. They hired a fighter who spent eighteen months making hostile reporters answer for their own questions.
Look at what she built while she was there. Leavitt didn't just survive the White House press corps, she restructured it. The "new media" seat was a direct challenge to the gatekeepers who spent decades deciding which voices got access and which got ignored. She took the podium that the establishment media treated as their personal property and handed a piece of it back to the American people. That's why the same outlets announcing her Fox deal this week are still grinding their teeth about it.
And notice the timing. November 1. Four days before voters head to the polls. Every Democrat consultant in Washington just felt a chill. Leavitt knows where the bodies are buried because she was in the room when they were buried, and she knows how to explain the fight in plain English to people who don't read Politico. She won't be reading talking points off a teleprompter. She'll be telling millions of Americans what actually happened behind closed doors during the tariff fights, the deportation surge, the DOGE cuts, and every other battle the media told you wasn't happening.
To the mainstream press: you spent two years trying to break her. You failed. Now she's got a bigger audience than you do. How does that feel?
