Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shopping potentially explosive book: sources
Amid the current “Midterm Madness,” former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is shopping a book, sources exclusively tell Page Six Hollywood.
Details on the book proposal that’s making the rounds to publishers are being kept under wraps — but sources tell us that tome will include behind-the-scenes details of Leavitt’s tenure as the the youngest-ever White House press secretary under President Trump.
Leavitt, 29, stepped down in August to spend more time with her children and husband Nicholas Riccio, 61, and her replacement has still not been found. She’s returning to her previous job at MAGA Inc., a pro-Trump political action committee.
The book could dish on the inner workings of the Washington, DC, media world as Leavitt has already been telling some Beltway tales out of school.
Last week, Leavitt told Fox News host Sean Hannity on his podcast that she had a different relationship with the press corps on- and off-camera: “There’s been times reporters have even said to me, ‘I’m sorry I had to ask that today, you know, my bosses really wanted me to ask that,’” she said. “They know it’s an unfair question but they’re not in control of their own, like, livelihood. They are dictated by the editors and the execs at some of these companies.”
She also revealed some private Trump administration anecdotes that had MAGA pundits hopping mad.
Leavitt told Hannity, for example, that Trump once ripped into former UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at a private lunch in the UK that had senior staffers on edge.
“We’re sitting around the table, and we’re all enjoying lunch, and we’re in this beautiful place, and the president just starts ripping into him for his policies,” she said. “‘Your policies here are so stupid, you need to close your borders,’” the former spox said Trump told the PM. “‘You need to deport these people you have in your country. I know your country and I know your people, they hate what you’re doing.’”
She also reportedly said in the interview: “Starmer’s just sitting there… in his house, in his country. We’re not even at the White House, we’re not even on our own territory and he’s just… I remember [White House deputy chief of staff] Stephen Miller and I looking at each other like, ‘Oh boy, here we go.’”
That prompted Newsmax host Greg Kelly to say of Leavitt via social media over the weekend: “Unbelievable. So now that she’s an Ex press secretary… Leavitt GOSSIPS about PRIVATE meetings the President had with world leaders?”
Incensed Kelly also posted of Leavitt’s interview: “We’re in the middle of MIDTERM MADNESS and Karoline (with a K) ‘dishes’ Without a Care In the World. A BREACH of Trust: The President’s, and the Nation’s. So IMMATURE!!!!”
Then again, Trump had also been very public about his disdain for Starmer: He posted that the pol “failed badly” on immigration and energy back in June, and predicted he’d be out of a job, scoffing, “I wish him well!”
Since Leavitt left the gig, shock waves have hit the White House press pool, with President Trump attempting to ban CNN, MS NOW, and Politico.
Reports have cited multiple sources behind the scenes saying that the move would not have happened under Leavitt, but the administration has backed the moves by saying publicly, “Nobody close to the president was surprised at his action to hold the fake news accountable,” of the outlets’ ban.
Contenders for the spokesperson role have been said to include former Trump attorney Alina Habba, Breitbart Washington bureau chief Matthew Boyle, former White House communications staffer Taylor Budowich and current White House comms director Steven Cheung, as well as former Elon Musk aide Katie Miller, White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly, US chief of protocol Monica Crowley, CNN commentator Scott Jennings and former TV news anchor Kari Lake.
We have reached out to Leavitt for comment.