VICE President JD Vance has revealed the single condition he had for Karoline Leavitt before he agreed to fill in for her as press secretary.
Vance was light-hearted as he took the podium in the White House briefing room for Leavitt on Tuesday as she enjoys maternity leave after welcoming her daughter earlier in May.
Vance got a chance to speak with reporters in the briefing room for just under an hour and gave time to shout out the press secretary.
“It’s cool to be here. I’m going to give a shoutout of course to the person I am replacing today, Karoline Leavitt, who hopefully is at home enjoying some time with her beautiful kids,” Vance said.
“I told Karoline I would stand in for her today for the White House press briefing on the condition that when Usha has our baby in July that she would be vice president for a couple of weeks,” he joked as the room filled with laughter.
Leavitt announced she gave birth to her second child with her husband, Nicholas Riccio, on May 1.
“She is here, and she is perfect,” Leavitt captioned an Instagram post with a photo of her coddling baby Viviana.
Leavitt, 28, and Riccio, 60, share a son, Niko, who was born in July 2024.
She stepped away from her duties as press secretary on April 27 after being forced to delay her maternity leave following the near-miss assassination attempt on President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Leavitt made history as the first White House spokesperson to become pregnant while in office, and Vance’s wife, Usha, is simultaneously making history as the first second lady in modern history to be pregnant while in the role.
Vance, 41, and Usha, 40, announced in January that they were expecting their fourth child, another baby boy who is due in late July.
The couple share three children: Ewan, 8, Vivek, 5, and Mirabel, 4.
Usha has stepped out in many appearances alongside her husband with her baby bump on display in some chic outfits.
The second lady told NBC News in March that this pregnancy was much different than her other three as she is required to dress up more for her role in the White House.
“My last pregnancy, there were a lot of sweat pants,” Usha said.
“I was working from home — you know, sometimes put a blazer on over what was under.”
It was previously announced that Trump would run his own press briefings alongside other members of the Trump administration while Leavitt is away on maternity leave.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also took on the role of press secretary, cracking jokes and switching to Spanish as he filled in for Leavitt.
