Overview
- Karoline Leavitt resumed full press-secretary duties in the James S. Brady Briefing Room on Thursday, July 16, giving her first full briefing since starting maternity leave in late April.
- Leavitt urged Americans to watch President Trump’s 9 p.m. ET primetime speech on election security and said viewers would be “relieved” by the president’s forthcoming “findings.”
- Asked about the Iran conflict, Leavitt reiterated a hardline posture, saying the United States “can hit Iran anytime, anywhere, any place.”
- Leavitt said the president’s teleprompter operator, Gabriel Perez, is on unpaid administrative leave after reporting that he profited from bets on the president’s speeches on the Kalshi platform.
- Her return followed an eight- to ten-week absence during which senior officials rotated at the lectern and briefings were less frequent, and it included personal remarks on balancing motherhood and public service amid sharp social-media reaction and questions about network plans to air the speech.