Karoline Leavitt, 28, Expecting Baby No. 2 with Husband Nicholas Riccio, 60, Will Be First Pregnant White House Press Secretary

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is expecting her second child.

Leavitt, 28, shared the news on Instagram, revealing she is pregnant with a baby girl due in May 2026. In the photos, she poses in front of a Christmas tree wearing a white sweater dress and cradling her stomach.

“The greatest Christmas gift we could ever ask for – a baby girl coming in May 2026.☺️,” she wrote. “My husband and I are thrilled to grow our family and can’t wait to watch our son become a big brother. My heart is overflowing with gratitude to God for the blessing of motherhood, which I truly believe is the closest thing to Heaven on Earth. 🥹.”

The announcement arrives weeks after a separate family-related story drew attention: Leavitt’s nephew and godson’s mother, Bruna Caroline Ferreira, was detained by ICE in November and held for deportation proceedings.

Leavitt and her husband, Nicholas Riccio, 60, are already parents to their son Niko, now 18 months old.

A senior White House official told Fox News that Leavitt plans to remain in her role as press secretary during the pregnancy—an arrangement that would make her the first pregnant press secretary to hold the position. The White House was contacted for comment.

Leavitt and Riccio got engaged during the Christmas holiday in 2023 and welcomed their son, Nicholas Robert Riccio—nicknamed “Niko”—on July 10, 2024.

Not long after giving birth, Leavitt returned to the campaign trail for Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential run. In an October 2024 interview with The Conservateur, she said she chose not to take maternity leave after the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pa.

“I looked at my husband and said, ‘Looks like I’m going back to work,’ ” she said.

Ferreira Speaks Out After Detention

On Nov. 12, Ferreira—who shares a son with Leavitt’s older brother, Michael Leavitt—was arrested and detained by ICE while picking up her 11-year-old son from school in Revere, Mass.

Ferreira later addressed the incident publicly on Dec. 12 in an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett, appearing alongside her attorney Todd Pomerleau. During the conversation, she criticized Leavitt—who is her child’s godmother—saying Ferreira chose her for the role “over my sister,” as she told CNN.

“I think what I would have to say to Karoline is: Just because you went to a Catholic school doesn’t make you a good Catholic,” Ferreira said.

“You are a mother now,” she continued. “How would you feel if you were in those, in my shoes? … How would you feel if somebody did this to you?”

Leavitt has not publicly commented on Ferreira’s arrest. A source previously said Leavitt has not spoken with Ferreira—her brother Michael’s ex-fiancée and co-parent—“in many years.”

Ferreira told CNN she came to the United States from Brazil in 1998 when she was 6 years old. At the time of her arrest, she said she was in the process of obtaining a green card and had previously been protected under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy.

CNN reported that Ferreira was released from the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center on an immigration judge’s orders days before the interview aired. Ferreira described the weeks in detention as “mind-boggling,” saying she was “shuffled around the entire country” and that agents refused to tell her where she was being taken.

After news of the detention became public, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed the arrest, claiming Ferreira’s tourist visa expired in 1999. They also alleged Ferreira “has a previous arrest for battery,” a claim her attorney has repeatedly disputed.

Ferreira also denied the allegation on CNN, describing herself as “a law-abiding citizen.”

Asked about repeated claims from the Trump administration that she is a “criminal,” Ferreira told Burnett she felt devastated—especially for her child and her family.

“I’m heartbroken. I’m heartbroken for my son. You know, I’m heartbroken for my mother, who has worked for a quarter of a century cleaning houses, earned an honest living, has paid her taxes. I’ve been a law-abiding citizen. I don’t even have a parking ticket. And I’m so proud of it.”