White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared to forget one important detail about her boss’s plans for the future.
The 28-year-old press secretary, whom President Donald Trump, 80, has dubbed a “superstar” and praised for her “machine gun” lips, appeared to acknowledge a reality her boss has repeatedly challenged: that her job, like his presidency, has an expiration date.
“I view this job as public service,” Leavitt told the president’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, 43, in a Fox News interview on Friday. The press secretary went on to say, “And I realize it’s temporary. President Trump is only here in D.C. for four years.”
Leavitt’s certainty comes as the president has repeatedly floated the possibility of serving a third term, despite the U.S. Constitution’s two-term limit, since returning to office.
During the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Friday, Trump once again teased the possibility that his time in the Oval Office may not end when his current term does.
While the remark was delivered as a joke, Trump appeared more than willing to embrace the idea, proudly putting on a “Trump 2028” hat as he made the suggestion.
Speaking to a room full of journalists, Trump joked that the news industry would “be broke” once he leaves office because “there’s not going to be anybody to report on.” He then offered what he called “somewhat of a scoop,” announcing his “intention to run for a fourth term as president of the United States.”
A former senior aide to the president told Reuters in June that Trump has privately told staffers he continues to publicly muse about another term, despite being constitutionally barred from running again, in part because he does not want to be seen as a lame duck or fade into “irrelevance.”
The Wall Street Journal previously reported that some members of Trump’s inner circle remain uncertain whether the president is genuinely considering a third-term bid or merely trolling the media.
Trump will be 82 when his second term ends in January 2029, and he would be barred from running again unless the Constitution were amended. Still, he has repeatedly teased that there are “methods” to circumvent the constitutional restriction, without explaining what those methods might be.
Leavitt has cemented her role as one of Trump’s most prominent defenders, regularly stepping up to shield the president from criticism, including by attacking members of her own generation who have spoken out about the cost-of-living crisis, accusing them of being “raised with silver spoons in their mouths” as affordability concerns have grown under Trump.
When asked in May last year about Trump floating the possibility of a third term, the press secretary appeared reluctant to address the question directly. Instead, she said that when the president gives “an honest and candid answer,” journalists “spiral about his answer.”
The press secretary returned to her role this month after taking maternity leave in April. “It’s a small sacrifice in respect to my children’s entire lives,” Leavitt said of her decision to return to work.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
