White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters at the White House, Jan. 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)2025-01-28T12:01:45Z WASHINGTON (AP) Karoline Leavitt, the youngest person to serve as White House press secretary, will make her debut in the briefing room on Tuesday.Her first briefing is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room was the site of clashes between spokespeople and journalists during President Donald Trumps first term. Trump, a Republican, also made frequent appearances there himself during the coronavirus outbreak.Its unclear how often Leavitt, 27, plans to hold briefings. Trump had four press secretaries during his first administration, Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham and Kayleigh McEnany, and Grisham never held a briefing, while the others were more frequent presences behind the podium.Leavitt was a spokesperson for Trumps campaign and transition, and he said she did a phenomenal job when he announced in November that shed be his White House press secretary. Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator, he said then in a statement. I have the utmost confidence she will excel at the podium, and help deliver our message to the American People as we Make America Great Again. Previously, the youngest press secretary was Ronald Ziegler, who was 29 when he took the position in 1969 in Richard Nixons administration.Grisham was arguably the nations least visible press secretary in modern history, not holding a press briefing during nine months on the job. While she made occasional appearances on the Fox News Channel, she preferred to tape her interviews in a studio to avoid having to speak to reporters who gather on the White House driveway to interview officials after they appear on TV via cameras set up outside the executive mansion. The White House press secretary typically serves as the public face of the administration and historically has held daily briefings for the press corps. Trump disrupted those norms in his first term, preferring to serve as his own chief spokesperson. While he was president from 2017 to 2021, he frequently preferred to engage directly with the public, from his rallies, social media posts and his own briefings.At a news conference this past August, Trump was asked if hed have regular press briefings in his new administration. He told reporters, I will give you total access, and youll have a lot of press briefings, and youll have, uh, from me.When it came to a press secretary, he said: Probably theyll do something. If its not daily, its going to be a lot. Youll have more than you want. CHRIS MEGERIAN Megerian covers the White House for The Associated Press. He previously wrote about the Russia investigation, climate change, law enforcement and politics in California and New Jersey. twitter mailto