Karoline Leavitt announces birth of baby girl and will take maternity leave

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has given birth to a baby girl and will take maternity leave for an unspecified amount of time away from the briefing room lectern, as she welcomes her second child.

Leavitt, 28, announced Thursday that her daughter Viviana, or “Vivi” for short, was born May 1. She is the first White House press secretary to give birth while in the job.

“She is perfect and healthy, and her big brother is joyfully adjusting to life with his new baby sister,” Leavitt wrote in a social media post showing her holding the newborn in a home nursery. “We are enjoying every moment in our blissful newborn bubble.” Leavitt thanked those who had prayed for her during her pregnancy, saying she “truly felt them throughout the entire experience.”

She and her husband, Nicholas Riccio, gave birth to their first son, Niko, three days before Donald Trump was shot during a rally in Butler, Pa., in July 2024. The then-campaign spokeswoman decided to immediately return to work in the days after her first birth.

Since Trump took office last year, her son and husband have regularly visited her at the White House during the workday, with the two male Riccios spotted with Leavitt last month as they watched the president’s departure on Marine One on the South Lawn.

Leavitt is expected to take a bit longer leave than last time — and has already done so in the week since giving birth — but has declined to publicly say how long she will remain away from the White House.

A White House official told the Washington Post that her exact return “is still to be determined” but that the president and his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, “support her taking the time she needs during her maternity leave.”

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio became the first person to fill in for her. His nearly hourlong exchange with reporters in the White House briefing room prompted laughs from the journalists gathered to question him — and fueled more speculation that Rubio will mount his own 2028 bid for president.

The White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss still-fluid plans for the communications operation, said Vice President JD Vance and other top administration officials probably also will hold briefings during Leavitt’s absence.

At least seven women have held the press secretary’s job since Dee Dee Myers became the first during President Bill Clinton’s tenure. Although some had children, none were born during their mothers’ tenures in the job.

While Leavitt did not announce the name of her daughter until Thursday, the name was the subject of a trick performed onstage but off-mic by mentalist Oz Pearlman at the White House correspondents’ dinner April 25, in the moments before shots rang outside the ballroom.

Pearlman was in the processing of guessing the name of Leavitt’s baby — and had guessed “Vivian,” Pearlman told ABC the next day — just before Secret Service officers stormed the stage to evacuate Trump, the first lady and Vance.