What To Know
- CNN’s Scott Jennings is reportedly a frontrunner for White House press secretary, but Donald Trump is “not quite sold.”
- Outgoing press secretary Karoline Leavitt is stepping down at the end of the month to spend more time with her family.
- A new report claims that Trump is looking for a man to fill the role.
CNN’s Scott Jennings is reportedly a frontrunner for the White House press secretary job, but Donald Trump himself is said to be “not quite sold” on the conservative commentator.
Last week, The Daily Beast reported that Jennings was a favorite for the position, which becomes vacant at the end of the month when Karoline Leavitt officially steps down. Leavitt, who welcomed her second child with her husband, Nicholas Riccio, in May, said she is stepping away to spend more time with her family.
However, a new report from NOTUS on Wednesday (August 19) cited a source that paraphrased Trump as saying he is “not quite sold” on Jennings for the role. The report did note, though, that the president would prefer a man to succeed the outgoing Leavitt.
This contradicts a report from The Daily Mail on Tuesday (August 18), which claimed that Trump would prefer to see another woman as press secretary. Across his two terms, only one man has served in the role, Sean Spicer. Since then, the position has been held by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham, Kayleigh McEnany, and Leavitt, who has held the job since Trump returned to office in 2025.
The Mail also reported that Jennings has been meeting with Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, about taking on the position. The outlet claimed he met with Wiles to discuss the role before Leavitt had even publicly announced she’d be stepping down and has met with her at least one more time since then.
Jennings himself has dodged the question when asked whether he has interest in becoming the new press secretary. When CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked him about it on The Source last week, the MAGA pundit replied, “I don’t really have anything to say about it other than, I mean, I would get to see you every day.”
“That’s not a ‘no,’” Collins retorted.
Other names reported to be in the running include former George W. Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer, Trump’s former attorney Alina Habba, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, Breitbart’s D.C. bureau chief Matthew Boyle, former Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Davari, and aide Natalie Harp, whose close relationship with the president has attracted scrutiny in recent months.