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Newsweek
16-07-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
Inside Trump's Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's Net Worth—and How She Built It
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Karoline Leavitt has made headlines as President Donald Trump's press secretary in his second term. Leavitt, age 27, is the youngest person to hold the position of White House press secretary and comes into the role with a significant net worth and experience. Estimates of her net worth hover at around $7 million, but the real number could be higher. Why It Matters Press secretaries play a pivotal role in each presidential administration, conducting often daily media briefings to answer questions about recent presidential and federal agency news and decisions. Since Leavitt is the youngest to take on the public role, her background, finances and personal life remain of interest to many Americans, especially as Trump's inner circle has been one of the richest in presidential history. U.S. President Donald Trump, joined by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, speaks to the media as he departs the White House on July 15, 2025, in Washington, D.C. U.S. President Donald Trump, joined by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, speaks to the media as he departs the White House on July 15, 2025, in Washington, To Know Before Leavitt's current role, she worked in the previous Trump White House as a member of then-press secretary Kayleigh McEnany's team. She has also worked as a news assistant at Fox News. Trump has praised the 27-year-old press secretary as "smart, tough and highly effective" when she made history as the youngest press secretary. After Trump lost his reelection in 2020, Leavitt became communications director for Republican Representative Elise Stefanik of New York. A New Hampshire native, Leavitt is estimated to have an annual income of $1.5 million and a predicted White House salary of $180,000, according to the Publicist Paper. That, plus media opportunities and real estate investments, provides her a net worth estimated at $7 million. Shortly after graduating from Saint Anselm College, Leavitt rose in conservative politics, cementing herself as a fixture in the Trump administration. In 2022, she ran for New Hampshire's 1st Congressional District but lost during the primaries. Leavitt is married to husband Nicholas Riccio, who has a net worth of $6 million, largely from his real estate portfolio, according to Distractify. Their relationship has drawn many eyes as Leavitt is 32 years younger than her husband Riccio, prompting rumors over how they met and how their relationship works. Leavitt previously said the duo met when she was running for New Hampshire's first congressional district against Chris Pappas when she was around 25 years old. "A mutual friend of ours hosted an event at a restaurant that he owns up in New Hampshire, and invited my husband. I was speaking and we met, we were acquainted as friends, and we fell in love," Leavitt said previously on The Megyn Kelly Show. "Of course. I mean it's a very atypical love story, but he's incredible," Leavitt said regarding the age gap in her relationship. "He is my greatest supporter, he's my best friend, and he's my rock." Leavitt also said her husband's real estate success has allowed her to fully pursue her own career. "He's built a very successful business himself, so now he's fully supportive of me building my success in my career," she added during the interview. "He's the father of my child, and he's the best dad I could ever ask for. And he is so supportive, especially during a very chaotic period of life." Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment. What People Are Saying President Donald Trump said in a statement to Newsweek in November 2024: "Karoline Leavitt did a phenomenal job as the National Press Secretary on my Historic Campaign, and I am pleased to announce she will serve as White House Press Secretary." Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek: "When it comes to Leavitt's net worth, most is tied to her husband's lucrative real estate business and, of course, her earnings since becoming press secretary. Any public position can be a mixed bag when it comes to further acquiring wealth. Sometimes it produces more speaking engagements and government roles, and other times these figures go away from public view quickly." What Happens Next Leavitt's financial success is likely to rise as she continues working as Trump's press secretary and after the president's second term. Future earnings could be amassed from book deals, TV appearances or taking on new media or political adviser positions. "Given her youth and discipline in communicating the administration's message, she could have a long career ahead of her presenting party messaging after this President's second term comes to a close," Beene said.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Red Sox legend endorses Boston Mayor Wu for reelection
A beloved Red Sox icon has endorsed Boston Mayor Michelle Wu in her bid for reelection. Red Sox Hall of Famer David Ortiz on Thursday announced his endorsement for Wu, citing her inclusive leadership and unwavering commitment to the people of Boston. "Boston has always been special to me, and I care deeply about its future. I've gotten to know Mayor Wu and I'm impressed by her dedication to bringing people together across our neighborhoods,' Ortzin said in a statement. 'What makes Boston great is how we support each other as one community. I believe in leadership that listens to all voices and works for everyone in the city. That's why I'm proud to support Mayor Wu because Boston deserves someone who shows up for all of us.' Wu said that Ortiz's endorsement 'means the world' to her. 'To have the support of Red Sox legend David Ortiz means the world to me, not just as a fan, but as someone who believes deeply in the spirit of Boston,' Wu said in a statement. 'Big Papi has always represented the heart of our community, and I'm honored by his endorsement. This is our city—and together, we'll keep making Boston a home for everyone.' Ortiz and Wu are slated to hold an endorsement ceremony at Fenway Park on Thursday night. Wu is being challenged by fellow Democrat Josh Kraft, the son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, in the November election. Kraft launched his campaign for mayor on Feb. 4. A new Saint Anselm College poll shows that Wu holds a 53% to 21% lead over Kraft in her bid for reelection. View the survey of Boston voters below: Saint Anselm College poll by Boston 25 Desk on Scribd Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Karoline Leavitt: Evil forces worked against Trump during 2024 election
Donald Trump's press secretary has said 'evil forces' were working against him during his presidential election campaign. Karoline Leavitt said she saw this 'first-hand' in 2024 and that she believes 'spiritual warfare' is taking place in America. During an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Ms Leavitt – who is at 27-years-old, the youngest White House press secretary ever – also spoke of her 'guilt' at being away from her eight-month-old son, Niko, while she is at work. Ms Leavitt spoke of the difficulty of juggling her career and motherhood, but said she always tries to come home for Niko's bedtime. Ms Leavitt's role hosting the daily press briefings has turned her into a lightning rod for criticism from those who take umbrage with her no-nonsense approach at the podium. Credit: CBN News But her pithy retorts to journalists from Left-wing media organisations have made her a hero among Mr Trump's supporters. The president himself strongly backs Ms Leavitt, a former Republican Congressional candidate, and said last week she is 'knocking them dead'. She attended a Catholic high school in Lawrence, Massachusetts followed by Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire on a softball scholarship. 'I certainly believe in spiritual warfare. And I think I saw it first-hand, especially throughout the campaign trail with President Trump. And I think there certainly were evil forces.' Referring to the attempt on Mr Trump's life, she added: 'And I think that the president was saved by the grace of God on July 13th in Butler, Pennsylvania, and he's in this moment for a reason.' Ms Leavitt said that on the mornings she does the daily press briefing, she spends hours talking to the president and his senior advisors to understand their take on current events. But just before she goes to the briefing room, she holds a group prayer to steady herself. 'I think that team prayer before is just a moment to be silent and still and ask God for confidence and the ability to articulate my words, knowledge, prayer, protection, and it is a nice moment to reset,' she said. 'It's the last thing I do before I go out there, and then it just gives me the confidence to do a briefing.' Ms Leavitt's clashes with the Left-wing media have been turned into memes and celebrated by Maga supporters: during one exchange about former president Joe Biden's pardons, she quipped to CNN's Kaitlan Collins: 'You're a reporter, you should find out.' In the interview, Ms Leavitt said that she knew what Left-wing outlets like MSNBC were going to ask because their questions were 'predictable'. Taking aim at legacy media outlets, Ms Leavitt said during the 2024 election, US voters 'sent out a very strong message' that 'we don't listen to you'. In more personal comments, Ms Leavitt said that working in the White House there were often 'hard days and long days and tiring days but every day is a good day'. Of her busy lifestyle, in which she gets around five or six hours of sleep a night, she insisted: 'As President Trump says, when you love your job and you love your life, you don't need to sleep much.' However she did admit to a 'sense of guilt' at not being able to spend more time with her baby Niko that she shares with her husband Nicholas Riccio, 59, a property said: 'Saying no when you have to say no to take care of your family is something I've had to learn the hard way in a very short amount of time. I try to make it home for bedtime during the week.'Ms Leavitt paid tribute to her hard-working, blue collar parents who did not go to college and instilled the value of hard work into her from a young said that being the White House press secretary put to bed the 'fallacy' that Mr Trump does not surround himself with strong and intelligent women. The president's chief of staff is Susie Wiles, the first woman to hold the role. As Ms Leavitt saw it, 'God had a plan' when she lost the election for a US House seat in New Hampshire's 1st district in 2022 as it led to her getting her current job. Out of all of Mr Trump's policies, tackling illegal immigration was the one that meant most to her, Ms Leavitt said. She was especially moved by the Laken Riley Act which orders ICE to detain migrants charged with theft-related crimes. It was inspired by the murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley, a nursing student who was killed while out jogging in January 2024 in Augusta, killer, 26-year-old José Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan migrant who was in the US illegally, had previously been arrested for theft but was released. Ms Leavitt said: 'I've watched as the president has… taken out a lot of time to know these mothers who have lost their children (to migrant crime).'As a mother myself I cannot imagine anything like that happening, especially at the hands of someone who should have never been in the country in the first place.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Karoline Leavitt: Evil forces worked against Trump during 2024 election
Donald Trump's press secretary has said 'evil forces' were working against him during his presidential election campaign. Karoline Leavitt said she saw this 'first-hand' in 2024 and that she believes 'spiritual warfare' is taking place in America. During an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Ms Leavitt – who is at 27-years-old, the youngest White House press secretary ever – also spoke of her 'guilt' at being away from her eight-month-old son, Niko, while she is at work. Ms Leavitt spoke of the difficulty of juggling her career and motherhood, but said she always tries to come home for Niko's bedtime. Ms Leavitt's role hosting the daily press briefings has turned her into a lightning rod for criticism from those who take umbrage with her no-nonsense approach at the podium. But her pithy retorts to journalists from Left-wing media organisations have made her a hero among Mr Trump's supporters. The president himself strongly backs Ms Leavitt, a former Republican Congressional candidate, and said last week she is 'knocking them dead'. She attended a Catholic high school in Lawrence, Massachusetts followed by Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire on a softball scholarship. 'I certainly believe in spiritual warfare. And I think I saw it first-hand, especially throughout the campaign trail with President Trump. And I think there certainly were evil forces.' Referring to the attempt on Mr Trump's life, she added: 'And I think that the president was saved by the grace of God on July 13th in Butler, Pennsylvania, and he's in this moment for a reason.' Ms Leavitt said that on the mornings she does the daily press briefing, she spends hours talking to the president and his senior advisors to understand their take on current events. But just before she goes to the briefing room, she holds a group prayer to steady herself. 'I think that team prayer before is just a moment to be silent and still and ask God for confidence and the ability to articulate my words, knowledge, prayer, protection, and it is a nice moment to reset,' she said. 'It's the last thing I do before I go out there, and then it just gives me the confidence to do a briefing.' Ms Leavitt's clashes with the Left-wing media have been turned into memes and celebrated by Maga supporters: during one exchange about former president Joe Biden's pardons, she quipped to CNN's Kaitlan Collins: 'You're a reporter, you should find out.' In the interview, Ms Leavitt said that she knew what Left-wing outlets like MSNBC were going to ask because their questions were 'predictable'. Taking aim at legacy media outlets, Ms Leavitt said during the 2024 election, US voters 'sent out a very strong message' that 'we don't listen to you'. In more personal comments, Ms Leavitt said that working in the White House there were often 'hard days and long days and tiring days but every day is a good day'. Of her busy lifestyle, in which she gets around five or six hours of sleep a night, she insisted: 'As President Trump says, when you love your job and you love your life, you don't need to sleep much.' However she did admit to a 'sense of guilt' at not being able to spend more time with her baby Niko that she shares with her husband Nicholas Riccio, 59, a property developer. She said: 'Saying no when you have to say no to take care of your family is something I've had to learn the hard way in a very short amount of time. I try to make it home for bedtime during the week.' Ms Leavitt paid tribute to her hard-working, blue collar parents who did not go to college and instilled the value of hard work into her from a young age. She said that being the White House press secretary put to bed the 'fallacy' that Mr Trump does not surround himself with strong and intelligent women. The president's chief of staff is Susie Wiles, the first woman to hold the role. As Ms Leavitt saw it, 'God had a plan' when she lost the election for a US House seat in New Hampshire's 1st district in 2022 as it led to her getting her current job. Out of all of Mr Trump's policies, tackling illegal immigration was the one that meant most to her, Ms Leavitt said. She was especially moved by the Laken Riley Act which orders ICE to detain migrants charged with theft-related crimes. It was inspired by the murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley, a nursing student who was killed while out jogging in January 2024 in Augusta, Georgia. The killer, 26-year-old José Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan migrant who was in the US illegally, had previously been arrested for theft but was released. Ms Leavitt said: 'I've watched as the president has… taken out a lot of time to know these mothers who have lost their children (to migrant crime). 'As a mother myself I cannot imagine anything like that happening, especially at the hands of someone who should have never been in the country in the first place.'
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called her age-gap marriage an 'atypical love story.' Here's what to know about her life and career.
Karoline Leavitt, 27, is the youngest-ever White House press secretary. She worked for Kayleigh McEnany and Rep. Elise Stefanik before joining Donald Trump's 2024 campaign. She is married to 59-year-old real-estate developer Nicholas Riccio and has a son, Niko. Karoline Leavitt landed a White House internship as a college student during President Donald Trump's first term. In his second non-consecutive term, she serves as the youngest-ever White House press secretary. A former college athlete who spent her summers scooping ice cream in New Hampshire, Leavitt, 27, quickly rose through the ranks of Republican politics through communications jobs with former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik. During her tenure as the 2024 Trump campaign's national press secretary, she traveled across the country while pregnant and returned to work four days after giving birth to her son. Leavitt has also acknowledged her "atypical love story" with husband Nicholas Riccio, a 59-year-old real-estate developer. Here's what to know about Trump's White House press secretary. The White House Press Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Karoline Leavitt grew up in Atkinson, New Hampshire, and went to a Catholic high school. Leavitt's parents owned an ice cream stand where she worked during the summers. She attended Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts. "Having a Catholic education really formed who I am," she said on an episode of The Catholic Current podcast in 2021. She continued, "It taught me discipline, it brought me closer in my own relationship with God, and it also taught me the importance of public service and giving back to your community." She graduated from Saint Anselm College in 2019 with a degree in politics and communication. Leavitt was admitted to Saint Anselm College on a softball scholarship and played as an outfielder on the women's softball team, the Saint Anselm Hawks. Leavitt's extra-curricular activities included founding the Saint Anselm Broadcasting Club, volunteering at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, and writing articles for the college newspaper, The Saint Anselm Crier, defending Trump's travel ban and criticizing the "liberal media." She also spent a semester studying abroad at John Cabot University in Rome. In 2018, she interned at the White House during Trump's first presidency as a presidential writer in the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence. She was the first member of her family to earn an undergraduate degree. After graduating, she worked with then-press secretary Kayleigh McEnany in the White House Press Office. From 2019 to 2021, Leavitt worked as an assistant press secretary helping McEnany prepare for briefings. When Trump left office in 2021, Leavitt took a job as Rep. Elise Stefanik's director of communications. Stefanik serves as the House Republican Conference Chair. Leavitt ran for Congress in New Hampshire's 1st congressional district in 2022. "I could no longer sit back and watch as our conservative principles — that make America the greatest country in the world and New Hampshire the best state in the union — fall under attack," Leavitt wrote on her campaign website of her decision to run for office. Leavitt won the Republican primary, but lost the general election to the Democratic incumbent, Rep. Chris Pappas, who is the first openly gay man to represent New Hampshire in Congress. In 2024, she joined Trump's presidential campaign as his national press secretary. Leavitt held press conferences outside of Manhattan Criminal Court during Trump's hush-money trial. Trump was found guilty on all 34 felony counts, but was not sentenced with any punishment due to the US Supreme Court ruling granting presidents criminal immunity protections. Trump maintained his innocence throughout the trial and often referred to it as a "witch hunt." After Trump won the 2024 election, he appointed Leavitt as the youngest-ever White House press secretary. As press secretary, Leavitt established a "new media seat" in the White House briefing room reserved for podcasters, social media influencers, and other independent content creators who, "despite being some of the most viewed news websites in the country, have not been given seats in this room," she said at a January 29 briefing. Leavitt is married to 59-year-old Nicholas Riccio, who is more than twice her age. They share a son, Niko. Leavitt met Riccio, a real-estate developer, at a campaign event during her 2022 run for Congress. They announced their engagement on Christmas in 2023 and welcomed a son, Niko, on July 10, 2024. Leavitt returned to work just four days after giving birth after Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania. "I felt compelled to be present in this historic moment," she told The Conservateur. "The president literally put his life on the line to win this election. The least I could do is get back to work quickly." Leavitt and Riccio wed on January 4, 2025, days before Trump's second inauguration. Leavitt spoke about their 32-year age gap in a February interview on The Megyn Kelly Show. "I mean, it's a very atypical love story, but he's incredible," she said of Riccio, adding, "He's the father of my child and he's the best dad I could ever ask for. And he is so supportive, especially during a very chaotic period of life." Read the original article on Business Insider
