{"id":846,"date":"2026-05-22T15:48:56","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T15:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/humanitystories.pics\/?p=846"},"modified":"2026-05-22T15:48:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T15:48:56","slug":"nobody-does-it-like-karoline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humanitystories.pics\/?p=846","title":{"rendered":"\u201cNobody does it like Karoline!\u201d."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\"\"<\/div>\n
White House Press Secretary\u00a0Karoline Leavitt<\/strong>\u00a0is taking a well-deserved maternity break \u2014 and\u00a0Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/strong>\u00a0isn\u2019t shy about admitting the role isn\u2019t quite the same without her.<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Leavitt, 28, who has been the public face of press briefings since the start of President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/strong>\u2019s second term, welcomed her daughter,\u00a0Viviana<\/strong>, on May 1 with husband\u00a0Nicholas Riccio<\/strong>, 60. Their son,\u00a0Nicholas \u201cNiko\u201d Riccio<\/strong>, will turn two this July. Leavitt officially went on leave April 27.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

In her absence, Rubio stepped up to the podium on May 5 for a high-energy press briefing, fielding reporters\u2019 questions for nearly an hour. But he was quick to clarify his temporary stint doesn\u2019t make him a permanent replacement.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cKaroline is irreplaceable\u2026 I was just a pinch-hitter,<\/strong>\u201d Rubio told\u00a0Fox News<\/strong>\u2019 Sean Hannity aboard Air Force One, where he was traveling with Trump to meet President\u00a0Xi Jinping<\/strong>\u00a0in China. \u201cWe can\u2019t wait until Karoline gets back.<\/strong>\u201d\"Master<\/p>\n

Leavitt has not confirmed when she will return, but reports suggest she plans to take a longer break than she did after the birth of Niko in 2024 \u2014 a leave cut short just days after an assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. A White House source told the\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0last week that the duration of Leavitt\u2019s maternity leave \u201cis still to be determined.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hannity joked that moonlighting as press secretary wasn\u2019t Rubio\u2019s first extra role in the White House, and Rubio laughed: \u201cWell, yeah, I don\u2019t know if I\u2019d have fun if I had to do it every week.<\/strong>\u201d\"Karoline<\/p>\n

Rubio, who recently took over the White House National Security Council following a reshuffle of Trump\u2019s advisers, is no stranger to juggling multiple high-profile responsibilities. His predecessor,\u00a0Mike Waltz<\/strong>, had to step aside after a Signal chat mishap leaked sensitive information about military operations in Yemen. Rubio has also become the first Secretary of State since\u00a0Henry Kissinger<\/strong>\u00a0to serve simultaneously as Trump\u2019s national security adviser.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Meanwhile, Leavitt made history as the first White House press secretary to give birth while in office. Her last public appearance before leave was on April 25 at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner alongside her husband, Nicholas, and a press conference immediately after a thwarted assassination attempt against the president.<\/p>\n

Until she returns, Rubio will hold the fort \u2014 but everyone in Washington seems to agree:\u00a0no one can replace Karoline Leavitt.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

White House Press Secretary\u00a0Karoline Leavitt\u00a0is taking a well-deserved maternity break \u2014 and\u00a0Secretary of State Marco Rubio\u00a0isn\u2019t shy about admitting the role isn\u2019t quite the same without her. Leavitt, 28, who…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanitystories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanitystories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanitystories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanitystories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanitystories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/humanitystories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":847,"href":"https:\/\/humanitystories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions\/847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanitystories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanitystories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanitystories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}