Trump's 'Surprise' Media Ban Would Not Have Happened If Karoline Leavitt Was Still Press Secretary, According to White House Aides
Aides told MS NOW that Trump's ban on three news outlets would not have gone out if Karoline Leavitt was still press secretary.
Sept. 27 2026, Published 6:16 p.m. ET
President Donald Trump's ban on three news outlets from the White House would not have allegedly happened if Karoline Leavitt were still press secretary, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The White House pushed back strongly against that account on Friday, dismissing the reporting as a lie.
What MS NOW Reported
Two people familiar with the building said Leavitt would have talked Trump down.
MS NOW reported Friday that the press secretary's job has sat empty for nearly a month since Leavitt left in August.
Two aides familiar with internal White House dynamics told the network the ban on MS NOW, CNN and Politico wouldn't have happened if she were still in the building.
Both said she could have talked Trump down.
"The ban is one of those moments where you've got to ask who's around the president right now and how did something like this get sent out, catching some of his own top staffers by surprise," one said.
The White House press office is less closely managed around Trump than it was when Leavitt ran it, and he liked her loyalty and her willingness to fight with reporters.
Initial Ban and Following Court Order
Trump barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the grounds last week.
Trump announced the restriction last week on Truth Social, saying the three outlets reported lies and that other organizations could follow.
Journalists from all three outlets were stripped of their hard passes and barred from accessing the grounds.
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the three outlets' access restored while the case proceeds. Reporters for all three were back on the grounds after the temporary order was lifted.
Pushback From the White House
A spokesperson said nobody close to Trump was surprised.
After MS NOW reporter Jake Traylor posted the story on social media, the administration's Rapid Response 47 account answered within minutes.
"All these clowns do is lie," it said.
A White House spokesperson then said: "Nobody close to the president was surprised at his action to hold the fake news accountable. No president is required to host a hostile operation on the grounds. Access has always been a privilege — and President Trump is applying that rule."
Rapid Response 47 said the reporting was a lie.
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Leavitt left in August after maternity leave.
Leavitt announced in mid-August that she was leaving at the end of the month to spend more time with her two young children.
She had taken maternity leave in the spring after the birth of her second child and returned in mid-July.
Trump praised her as one of the best press secretaries in the office's history and said she would remain an outside adviser.
Communications Director Steven Cheung has moved into her desk, but the White House press secretary role has not been filled yet.
