Why Trump’s Goons Are Fleeing West Wing From Hell

Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s departure at month’s end is the result of a combination of factors, both “personal” and “institutional.” On The Daily Beast Podcast , Joanna Coles and Hugh Dougherty dissected Leavitt’s AI-altered announcement this week that she would be leaving to focus on her family.

Leavitt, 28, has two children—Niko, born in 2024, and Viviana, born this May—with 60-year-old real estate developer Nicolas Riccio.

But there are other factors at play, Coles and Dougherty said.

Coles began by citing details shared with the Daily Beast on Sunday by first-term Trump communications director Anthony Scaramucci .

“He said it’s widely known among Trump’s aides that Trump is just meaner.

You can see it.

He’s more unpleasant to deal with.

He yells at people.

He’s always yelled at people, but he’s yelling louder and for longer,” Coles said.

“And I’m sure Karoline Leavitt, who you know, by all appearances, has a nice marriage, has a husband who’s wealthy enough that she doesn’t need to work, thought, ‘What am I doing with my life? I have these two adorable little babies at home.

Why do I need to come to work and get shouted at when I could go to Fox, make more money and be just as famous?’” One prior Trump administration press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, is a Fox host.

The network also brought on former Trump press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders as a contributor for a while after she left the White House.

Dana Perino, who served as press secretary in the George W.

Bush administration, is also a Fox host.