White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has unexpectedly resigned from her position, having served as one of President Donald Trump’s most trusted aides for the last 18 months.

Leavitt, now 28, was the youngest person to take on the role and soon became known sparring with journalists at White House briefings and lambasting the president’s political opponents.

The outgoing White House press secretary hit out at the Democratic Party in her resignation statement, shared on X, labeling the party as “increasingly extremist” and warning that the U.S. faces an “existential threat” from the Democrats.

Leavitt, who said that she was resigning because she “cannot be the best mom” to her two children while serving in her role, has repeatedly gone viral for her ripostes to journalists’ questions

Below we look at some of her most memorable moments.

Defending Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian civilization

Leavitt has vociferously defended the president’s words and actions during her tenure, even leaping to the commander-in-chief’s defense when he warned that Iran’s “whole civilization will die”.

The president made the threat in April, amid the U.S.’s war with Iran, stating: “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”

Trump’s remarks drew widespread international condemnation. Leavitt, however, defended Trump’s threats to reporters.

The now-outgoing White House press secretary said that she understood questions about the president’s rhetoric, but said that same “very tough rhetoric” had led to Iran agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Answering a journalist’s question with “your mom”

The press secretary went viral back in October after sharing an image of a text exchange with the HuffPost’s White House correspondent on X.

At the time, Trump was planning to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hungary.

The correspondent, S.V Dáte, asked Leavitt whether the U.S. president was aware of the significance of Budapest for Ukraine and Russia, given it is where the latter country promised not to invade the former in 1994.

“Does he not see why Ukraine might object to that site? Who suggested Budapest?” Dáte asked.

“Your mom did,” Leavitt replied, before labeling Dáte as a “far-left hack who nobody takes seriously” when asked by the journalist if she thought her joke had been funny.

Leavitt added: “Stop texting me your disingenuous, biased, and bulls*** questions.

Labeling the Epstein files a ‘manufactured hoax’

Last November, Leavitt described the Epstein files as a “manufactured hoax” fueled by the Democratic Party.

The press secretary, who was speaking about documents released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, said that the Democratic Party only wanted to talk about Epstein since Trump had taken office.

She went on to say that Trump knew Epstein because they both lived in Palm Beach, but that the now-president kicked the financier out of his Mar-a-Lago club because “Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile and he was a creep.”

Trump has always denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

Feud with the Associated Press

Leavitt and two other White House officials were sued by The Associated Press in early 2025, after the Trump administration blocked the publication from accessing press events.

The White House imposed the restrictions after The AP continued to refer to the Gulf of Mexico, which the administration had renamed the Gulf of America, by its actual title.

The press secretary defended the restrictions, which were later lifted, by saying that she was holding news outlets accountable for reporting “lies.”

“It is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America,” Leavitt declared.

In a separate incident, Leavitt hit out at The AP after reporter Josh Boak asked why Trump was “prioritizing tax hikes in the form of tariffs.”

Leavitt responded that tariffs were a “tax hike on foreign countries,” with Boak responding that tariffs are charged against importers.

“I think it’s insulting that you’re trying to test my knowledge of economics, and the decision that this President has made,” she said. “I now regret giving a question to The Associated Press.”

Sparring with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins

Leavitt has repeatedly lambasted CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, with the pair clashing over coverage of the U.S.’s war with Iran in one particularly heated exchange.

In March, Collins asked Leavitt about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s claim that the “fake news” was reporting on the deaths of U.S. service members to make Trump “look bad.”

Collins claimed that Hegseth was “complaining that it was front page news about these six service members who were killed.”

“That’s not what the secretary said, Kaitlan, and that’s not what the secretary meant,” Leavitt fired back. “And you know it. You know you’re being disingenuous.”

Collins read out Hegseth’s full quote, before noting that media outlets report the deaths of U.S. service members under all presidents.

“The press does only want to make the president look bad,” Leavitt hit back. “That's it. That’s a fact.”