White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made history when she became the youngest person in the US to ever serve in her position.
Since assuming office in January, she’s made short work of getting her name out there, having falsely stated in her first press conference that the US almost spent $50 million on condoms for Gaza – a bold claim that Reuters ultimately found no evidence to support.
This week, Leavitt was back in headlines after a controversial swipe at the French, retaliating for calls made by Raphaël Glucksmann - a member of the European Parliament and France’s center-left Place Publique party - who demanded the return of the Statue of Liberty, which had been a gift from his nation.
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“My advice to that unnamed low-level French politician would be to remind them that it’s only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now,” Leavitt said in a briefing yesterday.
“So they should be very grateful to our great country.”
But it’s not just her political remarks that are catching people’s attention.
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It seems Leavitt, 27, is keen to defend her relationship with husband Nicholas Riccio, who just so happens to be 32 years her senior.
Leavitt admitted the age gap made her marriage a little unorthodox, but stressed how ‘supportive’ her partner is.
“It's [a] very atypical love story, but he’s incredible,” she said during an episode of The Megyn Kelly Show last month.
“He is my greatest supporter, he’s my best friend, he’s my rock.”
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Leavitt and Riccio, 59, announced their engagement in December 2023, before tying the knot in a private ceremony.
“A mutual friend of ours hosted an event at a restaurant that he owns up in New Hampshire and invited my husband,” she recalled.
“I was speaking. We met, we were acquainted as friends and then we fell in love.”
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They welcomed their first child last year, at which point Leavitt planned to go on maternity leave – only to cut it short when an assassination attempt was made on Donald Trump.
Riccio, she says, has always been understanding of her professional choices, having forged a thriving career of his own in real estate.
“He's built a very successful business himself so now he's fully supportive of me building my success in my career,” Leavitt said, adding that her husband is ‘so supportive, especially during this very chaotic period of life’.
Topics: Politics, US News, Sex and Relationships
Jess Hardiman