Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, recommended Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matt Boyle to become the next White House Press Secretary following Karoline Leavitt’s announcement that she will leave the position at the end of August.
Leavitt announced her departure Wednesday after serving as President Donald Trump’s press secretary since the beginning of his second term. Trump said Leavitt would leave the administration to spend more time with her family while continuing to serve as one of his outside advisers.
Leavitt recently returned from maternity leave following the birth of her second child in May. She said she could not be “the best mom my two young children deserve” while devoting the time and attention required by the press secretary position.
During Thursday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Leahy praised Leavitt’s tenure before turning to the question of who should succeed her.
“She’s been outstanding as a press secretary,” Leahy said. “So the question now turns to who should replace her?”
Leahy mentioned White House communications director Steven Cheung and attorney and former Trump counselor Alina Habba as potential candidates before making his own recommendation.
“But my recommendation to the president is I think he should appoint my former colleague, my former boss at Breitbart News, Matt Boyle,” Leahy said. “Matt Boyle is my recommendation to the president to become his next press secretary.”
Leahy said he worked with Boyle for roughly a decade at Breitbart, describing him as an experienced journalist who understands both the media and the political world.
“He was a very good reporter, very good, and very strong, anti-establishment, if you will, but fact-based,” Leahy said.
Leahy added that Boyle’s experience and temperament would make him well suited for the White House podium.
“He’s got a background in journalism,” Leahy said. “He has a temperament that is well-suited to the job. In other words, he’s a very steady guy, and yet he doesn’t give an inch to false narratives.”
Leahy also described Boyle as “probably one of the hardest-working guys I’ve ever met” and pointed to his relationships with members of the media who regularly cover the White House.
“He’s known, he’s respected by them,” Leahy said. “They don’t always agree with him, but he’s respected by them.”
Boyle currently serves as Washington Bureau Chief of Breitbart News, where he oversees U.S. politics coverage. He also hosts Breitbart News Saturday on SiriusXM Patriot.
Leahy noted that Boyle has interviewed Trump numerous times and argued that his familiarity with the president would be another asset if he were selected.
“He’s got the trust of the president, and I think my recommendation is the best man for the job is a man this time, and his name is Matt Boyle,” Leahy said.
Leahy also raised the possibility that Boyle could help improve access for the administration to conservative and independent media outlets.
“I have a sense that our access to President Trump from The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network, and other new media, if Matt Boyle is in that job, I think we’ll get better access,” Leahy said.
Clint Brewer, a public affairs specialist appearing as a guest on Leahy’s show, agreed that the next press secretary would have a difficult job but praised Leavitt’s performance.
“I think she’s been a really good reflection of this administration in terms of its disposition,” Brewer said. “I think she carries—I think she has been a good messenger for the Trump administration.”
Brewer said Leavitt had been appropriately forceful when dealing with the media.
“I think that she’s done that. I think that she’s been appropriately confrontational, but not overly confrontational,” Brewer said.
Brewer also credited the Trump administration’s broader press operation with avoiding a common problem in presidential administrations: sending a press secretary before reporters with information that later proves inaccurate.
“I think they, in these first almost two years, have done a really good job of avoiding that classic mistake where you send the press secretary out to say something that just isn’t true,” Brewer said.
“That’s not just kudos to her, but the entire press team,” Brewer added.
Brewer ultimately agreed with Leahy that Boyle could be a strong successor.
“They’re gonna need a tough one,” Brewer said. “She’s been very firm with the press. She’s pushed back really hard on some things that she needed to, and, big shoes to fill.”
Leahy reiterated his support for Boyle, saying he believed Boyle’s long experience dealing with Washington journalists gave him an advantage.
“He’s dealt with these people for now, what, since, well over 15 years, all of them,” Leahy said.
Neither Trump nor Leavitt has publicly identified a successor.
Watch:
Tune in now to The Michael Patrick Leahy Show – your AMERICA FIRST news talk!
– Watch LIVE here on X
– Watch LIVE on YouTube / Rumble / Roku / AppleTV
– Listen on Spotify
– Listen on WENO AM760 in Nashville
– Read more at @TheTNStar— Michael Patrick Leahy (@michaelpleahy) August 13, 2026
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
