JUST IN: CNN Star Floated To Replace Karoline Leavitt As Press Secretary

Scott Jennings isn’t exactly shutting down speculation that he could trade CNN’s studio for the White House briefing room.

The 48-year-old conservative commentator sidestepped questions about replacing outgoing press secretary Karoline Leavitt during an Aug. 13 appearance on CNN’s “The Source.”

“Your name keeps getting floated,” host Kaitlan Collins told Jennings, a veteran of two George W. Bush campaigns and a former adviser to Sen. Mitch McConnell. “Have you heard anything from the White House on that job opening?”

“I don’t really have anything to say about it other than… I would get to see you everyday,” Jennings replied. “I would think you’d be happy about this.”

“I already see you every day,” Collins pointed out.

Jennings, now a CNN senior political commentator and contributor, countered that they cross paths only “one or two days a week.”

“Can you imagine, every single day, getting to go to work where I am?” Jennings said before adding, “This should be an amazing thing for you.”

“That’s not a no,” Collins replied.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins: “You know, Scott, I have to ask you because the White House announced yesterday Karoline Leavitt is leaving as press secretary. Your name keeps getting floated, which I’m sure you’ve seen. Have you heard anything from the White House on that job opening?”… pic.twitter.com/kEXmuHq0yM

— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) August 14, 2026

The buzz surrounding Scott Jennings had already surfaced one night earlier on CNN’s “NewsNight,” where former Democratic South Carolina state Rep. Bakari Sellers suggested the possibility was rattling the left.

“Let me help, Scott,” Sellers told the panel. “Democrats are afraid of Scott Jennings becoming press secretary. There you go. Now you’ve got the job.”

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Jennings first answered “No” when fellow panelists asked whether he would succeed Leavitt. He quickly left the door open, however.

“I don’t know,” he later said. “But I’ll tell you this: Karoline Leavitt has been maybe the greatest White House press secretary in the last 30 years, at least. She’s been nothing short of brilliant.”

The speculation erupted after President Donald Trump announced Leavitt’s planned exit in an Aug. 12 Truth Social post.

“Karoline Leavitt, will be departing her role at the end of the month so she can spend more time with her beautiful young children and family, a decision I totally understand and respect!” the 80-year-old president said.

Leavitt, 28, later addressed her departure on X, saying the “past year and a half has been the honor and adventure of a lifetime.”

She said the birth of her daughter, Viviana, in May ultimately drove her decision to leave the White House post.

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