Departing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt‘s 20 months behind the podium could have a lasting impact on how her successors, Republican and Democrat, operate.Following in the footsteps of her Trump predecessors, including first administration White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who did not brief once during her tenure, Leavitt and her team approached presidential communications differently.“Karoline Leavitt truly set a new standard for the White House press secretary,” the White House wrote in a statement on Thursday, Leavitt’s last day. “She fought for the facts, defended the America First agenda, and never, ever surrendered.”
Here are five ways Leavitt, the youngest White House press secretary in history, and her colleagues have changed the press shop at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. since the start of President Donald Trump‘s second term.White House pool reporter reform
Last January, Leavitt and the White House communications staff revamped what reporters have access to the president every day as part of the so-called press pool.The White House described being included in the pool as a privilege considering the opportunities to ask Trump questions and the White House Correspondents’ Association, which previously organized the rotation under which news outlets “pooled” or shared resources amid constraints, as a cartel since it was hard for new members to be added to the roster.“It was a group decision,” White House communications director Steven Cheung told the Washington Examiner of the changes.Leavitt and company also removed the three pool spots traditionally reserved for wire reporters on the roster and reallocated them among the press corps, more often than not to a more friendly face or platform.
