The race to replace Karoline Leavitt has morphed into a knife fight, with Trump-world sources trashing the contenders and a one-time frontrunner sunk by his own words, the Daily Mail reported Friday.
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CNN commentator Scott Jennings had the job if he wanted it, sources told the outlet, after dining with chief of staff Susie Wiles. But White House staff surfaced what he wrote on the day of the Capitol riot in 2021, when Jennings said Trump had caused the insurrection with lies about the election being rigged. Disgraced former Rep. Matt Gaetz amplified it, posting that Jennings for press secretary was a bad idea.
And Trump insiders noticed.
Jennings apologized for those comments in 2024, but that didn’t help, and neither did his defense of Sen. Mitch McConnell during the senator’s long absence from Congress. A source familiar with Trump’s thinking told the Mail the president was turned off by both, then quoted him.
“And the president also did say, ‘Look, he’s doing great for us on CNN. Maybe he’s more valuable there,” the source said.
Trump’s former personal attorney Alina Habba has also fared poorly in the sweepstakes.
She told a conservative podcaster she would take the job if asked, but a source put her chances at zero percent, saying Trump feels she has flamed out at the opportunities he has already given her.
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“Habba has a lot of connections within the White House, but the president is uninterested in giving her another job,” a source told the Mail.
Other contenders include Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center’s public relations chief and a first-term alumna, who has been posting clips defending Trump since Leavitt announced her exit. Caroline Sunshine, a former campaign aide turned cable pundit, has drawn similar notice. Even so, neither has generated much interest from the president, a source said. One adviser called Sunshine disloyal over her criticism of last year’s strikes in Iran.
Sunshine hit back at the remarks.
“White House officials are spending their days tracking my TV hits, tweets, and hairstyles? Perhaps if the White House was 100 percent focused on correcting the fake news about the President, he’d be getting better press. Get back to work,” she sneered.
Leavitt, who stepped down Aug. 27 after announcing she wanted more time with her two young children, is now at Trump’s political operation and advising him on her own replacement. Sources said there is no rush and no decision, and that the post could sit empty until after November.
That vacancy was conspicuous Friday, when Trump announced he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House with nobody at the podium to explain what the ban actually means. Jennings, meanwhile, remains on CNN, where colleagues have repeatedly cornered him over his Trump defenses.
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