Karoline Leavitt said Monday morning she will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. and delay the maternity leave she had been ready to start after a shooting incident rattled the White House weekend. The 28-year-old press aide, who is scheduled to have her second baby sometime this week, had said on Friday that she was about ready to have a baby any minute.
Leavitt and her husband, Nicholas Riccio, attended the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday at the Washington Hilton when shots rang out. The suspect was identified as 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen, who sent a manifesto to his family moments before attempting to storm the premises. Leavitt had told reporters Friday that this would likely be her last gaggle for some time and that she was ready to rumble, words that now read differently in the wake of the attack.
The White House had planned to send her on maternity leave before the shooting changed that timeline, and no replacement has been announced for her absence. The communications team did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the timing of her leave. That leaves Leavitt, and the husband often mentioned alongside her, at the center of a moment where personal timing and public duty have collided in full view.
It is not the first time she has moved quickly back into work after childbirth. In July 2024, Leavitt returned to the campaign four days after giving birth to her son, Nikko, after the then-candidate’s near-assassination at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In an interview with The Conservateur last year, she said, “I looked at my husband and said, ‘Looks like I’m going back to work,’” a line that now matches the pace of her latest decision. What happens next is clear enough: her leave is on hold, the press conference is set, and Leavitt is choosing work first again while the White House manages the gap around her.
