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‘Let’s get back to work’: Karoline Leavitt returns to the briefing room podium for the first time since maternity leave

(CNN) — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt returned to the podium with little fanfare Thursday, giving her first full briefing to reporters since she went on maternity leave at the end of April.

“Let’s get back to work,” she said as she kicked off her remarks.

Back to business. No fuss.

Leavitt’s first question came from an independent journalist, who asked her to share her secret to “having it all” as a working mom of two children that are two years old and under.

“I don’t think there is a secret. You just have to show up every day and keep going,” Leavitt said, thanking her husband, who, she added, is “home with our babies right now.”

More contentious topics followed, including President Donald Trump’s upcoming speech on election integrity, Iran and the economy.

Leavitt served in a junior role in the president’s first term but has emerged as one of his most effective and loyal spokespeople during his second. She has cultivated a personal brand as a pit bull for the president and his policies, tussling with reporters who ask tough questions and welcoming friendlier outlets.

Behind the microphone and on social media, she has also presented herself as a devoted wife and working mom, toting toddler son Niko to Air Force One and the Oval Office, posing for photos with her husband at the White House Easter Egg Roll and Halloween celebrations, baking an apple pie from scratch, and basking in newborn snuggles.

As is often true of social media, the images belie her demanding job.

“It’s challenging. But for me, I view this as more than job — I view this as public service,” she said Thursday.

When Leavitt’s first child was born in July 2024, she took just a four-day maternity leave, returning to the campaign trail the day after then-candidate Trump was the victim of an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.

This time around, now-President Trump was the target of an assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner just days before Leavitt gave birth to daughter Viviana. She held an impromptu briefing to address the shooting incident and its fallout the following Monday, April 27, before re-starting her leave.

In her absence, White House press briefings became significantly less frequent. The press shop stacked the lectern with top officials in guest star appearances with varying levels of success.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio went first, declaring the combat stage of the United States’ operation in Iran “over” on May 5.

Vice President JD Vance made a pair of appearances: on May 19, when he was grilled on the administration’s proposed $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, and on June 18, when he highlighted a memorandum of understanding with Iran that has since deteriorated.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also took a turn, fielding inquiries about the Iran conflict, the economy, and efforts to put the president’s face on US currency.

And when it was his turn to meet the press, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz was repeatedly pressed on news that the president had tapped Bill Pulte, a housing official, as acting director of national intelligence. Oz, a former television personality, told reporters he knew Pulte “socially,” but declined to weigh in further while speaking for the White House.

Leavitt has been spotted on the White House campus and Fox News over the last few weeks in the lead-up to her podium return, traveling to Mount Rushmore with the president but skipping a multi-day international trip to the NATO Summit in Turkey.

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Tourist helicopter hit flock of birds before crashing into the Hudson River last April, NTSB says

Washington (CNN) — A sightseeing helicopter that plunged into the Hudson River near New York City last year, killing a family of five and the pilot, crashed after hitting a flock of geese, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a series of investigative reports released on Thursday.The Bell 206L-4, operated by New York Helicopters, took off from lower Manhattan on April 11, 2025, circling the Statue of Liberty, before flying north along the Hudson River. After turning back south, the aircraft was near the New Jersey shoreline when it broke apart in the air, flipping and spiraling into the water.A “mixed-species flock of Brant and Canada Geese impacted the rotor blades” and the rear of the aircraft, the Smithsonian Institution’s feather identification lab determined. A “Great Blackbacked Gull was hit by flying debris from the tail section at force enough to mangle the bird and cause the bird wing to separate and come to rest on the rooftop with other helicopter debris,” the lab found.The Smithsonian, primarily known for its public museums in Washington, also assists investigators by identifying bird remains, called snarge, after aircraft collisions.“Bird remains were identified using whole/fragmentary feather comparisons with preserved bird specimens, microscopic examinations of diagnostic characters, and DNA analyses,” according to a report by the feather lab and included in the docket.The NTSB’s more than 2,000 pages of investigative materials do not state a probable cause of the crash. A determination is expected in the final report, which the NTSB told CNN is “likely” to come by the end of the year.One witness in a nearby apartment complex said he saw the helicopter “fall like a brick” into the water, investigators wrote in a report. He remembered “hundreds of birds” flying in the area but could not recall how high they were flying.Another witness was running along the Hudson when about 20 “very big, fat birds” took flight in front of her and headed toward the river. About two minutes later, she heard a “bang” overhead, but she did not notice any birds near the helicopter as it broke apart midair.The victims in the crash included three children and their parents – who both worked for Siemens, a German multinational technology conglomerate. The pilot was also killed.The helicopter’s last major inspection was on March 1, and it had completed seven tour flights earlier on the day of the accident, according to the NTSB.Over 24,000 incidents of aircraft hitting animals were reported in the Federal Aviation Administration’s wildlife strike database last year. More than 1,000 of those were determined to have happened in New York or New Jersey.The Hudson was also the site of one of the most famous crash landings caused by aircraft hitting birds, dubbed the “Miracle on the Hudson.” Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger safely landed US Airways flight 1549 in the river in 2009 after Canadian Geese disabled both engines of his Airbus A320 moments after taking off from LaGuardia Airport.The number of bird strikes reported has gone up in recent years due to increased wildlife populations, more flights, faster and quitter aircraft, and better reporting, the FAA said. Efforts to mitigate the risks include habitant management, detecting and predicting wildlife moments, and keeping the animals away.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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