Washington Secrets: Trump has his Karoline Leavitt replacement lined up

WASHINGTON SECRETS

BY ROB CRILLY

Welcome to Thursday’s edition of Washington Secrets. We have been hitting the phones since Donald Trump announced the departure of Karoline Leavitt yesterday, and we bring you everything we know about what the White House press shop will look like once she has left at the end of the month…

EXCLUSIVE — Karoline Leavitt has been one of the top performers in the Trump administration, making it almost impossible to replace the press secretary when she leaves at the end of the month.

Which is why President Donald Trump knows there is only one man for the job: himself.

Two sources told Secrets that he is planning to retool his media operation, with a heavier focus on surrogates hammering his message on television, while he continues to talk to journalists whenever he can.

“He is pissed there aren’t dozens of surrogates out there hammering his position on the Strait of Hormuz, for example,” said a former Trump official who remains in close contact with the president.

“Speculation about the next press secretary is all wrong,” the official added. “It is not the role you think it is when he has reporters in every day and is talking to them on the phone.”

So don’t expect a like-for-like replacement for Leavitt.

Instead, Trump communications veteran Jason Miller has already quietly returned to the White House in a key role.

A source told Secrets of Miller: “He’s an unpaid special government employee helping the team with accomplishments messaging through the midterms.”

Expect him to also take a hand in getting surrogates to deliver the message across media, although running the slate of boosters is not central to his work.

The gist from a dozen people inside or connected with the administration is that no one should get too caught up in speculating who might be the next press secretary.

“Search me,” said one insider when asked which names were in the frame.

“The talent pool is not deep and those are very big shoes to fill anyway,” a former Trump official said.

It’s a job that is not just about being a good communicator of the president’s positions and White House policy, but it requires behind-the-scenes skills of building relationships with journalists, knowing when to dish out favors, and the dark arts needed to kill bad stories.

They played down the idea that Anna Kelly, principal deputy press secretary, might step into the top role.

The result is that any names being floated in the media are simply the result of speculation rather than knowledge. Or of possible candidates talking themselves up.

An insider said the president was pleased with how Leavitt’s 12-week maternity leave worked out. The press operation did not grind to a halt in her absence, even without a like-for-like replacement.

Instead, a series of top officials and Cabinet secretaries made a splash with briefings that were crammed with excited reporters, while Trump kept up a steady stream of informal press conferences in the Oval Office.

That could provide something of a model. It shows how the Trump press operation has shifted over time.

When Leavitt took up the job 19 months ago, she expected to be in the briefing room three times a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, except on those days when the president himself was due to make a public appearance.

But with Trump talking so frequently, she found herself briefing barely once a week.

Runners and riders for the role

Alina Habba is leading the early betting in prediction markets. “She has to be up there and has a record of defending the president,” said a former Trump official, although she is often linked with job as the result of her own quiet lobbying efforts.

Jason Miller is already back at the White House, overseeing messaging. Unlikely to take the role of press secretary, but the thinking is that he could act as a temporary stand-in while a successor to Leavitt is found.

Shermichael Singleton. This is Secrets’s dark horse. The CNN political commentator (and former Washington Examiner columnist) is battle-tested in enemy territory, and an African American could be the way to keep a critical part of the 2024 coalition on side. But Trump is almost certain to want a woman in the job.

Monica Crowley. A seasoned performer and a trusted member of the administration. But as Chief of Protocol of the United States, she holds the rank of ambassador. Would she want to give that up?

Scott Jennings. One of Trump’s top TV surrogates. And a lot of clever speculation is centered on him. But the job of press secretary these days is sought by people on the way up, looking for TV exposure. He already has it.

Matthew Boyle. The Breitbart Washington bureau chief is well-liked by the White House and has been floated by the New York Post as a potential candidate. But how to put this delicately? He is not exactly from central casting.

Kari Lake. Trump, in the past, has described her as a “killer” for her media style. But the former Arizona gubernatorial candidate is lined up to be the next U.S. ambassador to Jamaica and probably ready to get out of American politics for a while.

Anna Kelly. The principal deputy press secretary is effectively next in line to Leavitt and the top contender from within the White House communications shop. She is a very able television performer, but is thought to be a long shot.

Quote of the day

Did you see the wild conspiracy theory that surfaced in the wake of the Oval Office vaccine announcement this week? Eagle-eyed viewers spotted something odd. An apparently dozing president would spark back into life when the woman standing behind him touched her belly.

Was she activating a secret buzzer designed to wake a slumbering Trump?

No.

“I’m just pregnant you weirdos,” Jayme Leagh Franklin, a former Trump White House official and chief executive of an online lifestyle publication for conservative women, posted on X.

But wouldn’t that be the perfect cover for hiding the button?

Lunchtime reading

Ned’s Club is buzzy, exclusive — and a work in progress: What happens when a restaurant critic checks out one of the new breed of clubs popping up in D.C.? Nothing good, it turns out. “It reads better than it tastes,” said one member about the menu.

Nikki Haley goes all in for Ralph Norman against Trump-backed Darline Graham Nordone: What’s going on? Does Haley want to ensure Norman has no chance?

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