With the press secretary position still empty nearly a month after Karoline Leavitt left, President Donald Trump’s aides are reportedly trying to divert his attention away from his favorite CNN TV pundit.
Scott Jennings, 48, was seen as an early favorite after Chief of Staff Susie Wiles met him and staffers told CNN they believed he had her backing. The Hill also reported that he was considered even before 29-year-old Leavitt landed the job in 2024
But some staffers are opposing Jennings, pushing to replace Leavitt with someone already inside the building, according to people familiar with the internal deliberations.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
The time since Leavitt left the podium on August 27 is the longest period in modern American history without a White House press secretary. The White House has only held two press briefings in the past two months, while previous administrations averaged more than 10 per month.
This job opening comes at a particularly tumultuous time for White House communications, with an escalating trade war, a relentless seven-month war with Iran, and a lavish, widely criticized meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping. Trump’s approval ratings have dropped to an all-time low of 32 percent in a Reuters/Ipsos report—enough to keep a spokesperson busy.
The empty podium has directly contributed to Trump’s decision to ban MS NOW, CNN, and Politico from the White House. The move Trump touted as an “assault on the FAKE NEWS” was temporarily blocked by a judge on Thursday, restoring access as litigation continues.
Two sources described as “familiar with the White House’s internal dynamics” told MS NOW that Leavitt likely would have talked Trump out of the ban if she was still there.
“The ban is one of those moments where you’ve got to ask who’s around the president right now and how did something like this get sent out, catching some of his own top staffers by surprise,” one of the sources said.
Former campaign spokesperson Danielle Alvarez and Trump’s longtime advisor Jason Miller have stepped in while the president decides on Leavitt’s successor, but Trump doesn’t seem in any rush.
Sources continued, saying Trump has grown comfortable making media decisions entirely on his own, sometimes skipping the usual internal review process.
Known as MAGA’s favorite TV attack dog and CNN’s “resident Trump criticism deflector,” Jennings might be a perfect fit. He’s defended the president’s wallet-squeezing tariffs, the never-ending, though supposedly “victorious” Iran war, and even the fighter jet dropping feces on protesters video.
A video from April shows the Republican commentator defending the administration’s goal in the Iran conflict, and when MeidasTouch’s Adam Mockler challenged him, he lost his temper, shouting, “Get your f---ing hand out of my face!” He then got a slap on the wrist from CNN NewsNight host Abby Phillip.
Like Trump, Jennings has landed himself in media trouble a few times, including false claims about leftist Twitch streamer Hasan Piker wanting to bring back lynching. He also posted that senior Trump-administration officials told him that Iran was planning preemptive strikes on U.S. military and civilian targets, an assertion critics inside the network said was unsupported by U.S. intelligence.
