In a moment that left the White House Press Corps squinting at their notebooks, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declared on Wednesday that she is no longer part of Donald Trump's 'political team'.

The 28-year-old, who has served as the fierce public face of the 79-year-old President's second term, made the unexpected remark during a routine briefing on 22 April 2026.

The Karoline Leavitt White House admission came as she attempted to dodge a question regarding a controversial Virginia redistricting referendum, creating an immediate vacuum of clarity in the West Wing.

While Leavitt remains the official spokesperson for the administration, her insistence that she now sits purely as a 'government employee' has ignited a fierce debate over whether she is distancing herself from the President's re-election machinery or simply bungling a technical legal distinction. This White House briefing controversy is the latest tremor in an administration already grappling with a fragmented communications strategy and direct-to-journalist calls from the Oval Office.

Her latest headache arrived via an apparently straightforward question about Virginia's redistricting referendum and why Trump had not pushed more aggressively against it on his social media platform, Truth Social.

A reporter asked: 'On the issue of Virginia redistricting, as he weighed in this afternoon, why didn't he campaign more actively against this referendum? Why not spend time on Truth Social encouraging people [to] vote no before the vote?'

Leavitt paused, then drew a sharp line between herself and Trump's re‑election operation.

'That's a question that's political by nature,' she replied. 'As you know, I'm not part of the President's political team anymore. I do sit here at the White House as a government employee.'

She went on to offer a more conventional defence, saying the president 'has a lot on his plate, a lot on his schedule,' and pointing out he had hosted 'a telephone call prior to the election, the night before,' before insisting he had now made 'his position on the results of this election clear today.'

Leavitt: That's a question that's political by nature, as you know, I'm not part of the president's political team anymore. I do sit here at the White House as a government employeepic.twitter.com/noeqZ0K68N

Source: International Business Times UK