MAGA pundit Scott Jennings appears to have a serious inside track on the White House press secretary job — and he may have been negotiating for it before Karoline Leavitt even announced she was leaving. However, Donald Trump reportedly wants a woman to take over the podium.
Jennings, a 48-year-old conservative commentator and one of Trump’s most vocal defenders on CNN, has emerged as a leading contender for the job as Leavitt prepares to leave the White House at the end of August.
And according to new reporting, Jennings isn’t simply being mentioned as a possibility. He has reportedly been having private conversations with Trump’s powerful chief of staff, Susie Wiles, about taking the job.
Three people familiar with the selection process told the Daily Mail that Jennings and Wiles “speak often,” with one source describing the job as “his if he wants it.”
And, according to that source, he does.
The latest reported meeting took place over dinner at Morton’s steakhouse in Washington, D.C., not far from the White House.
Meanwhile, other hopefuls were reportedly scrambling to get Trump’s attention at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
One person familiar with the competition compared the scramble to Trump’s old reality show, *The Apprentice*, saying the candidates were desperately trying to get in front of the president.
The White House has denied that Jennings and Wiles have held the reported meetings, while Jennings himself has been careful not to publicly campaign for the position.
But his recent media activity has certainly fueled the speculation.
Jennings has spent years building the kind of profile that could make him a natural fit for Trump’s communications operation. He served as a senior aide during George W. Bush’s administration and later worked as an adviser to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. Today, he is best known as CNN’s resident conservative voice and a frequent defender of Trump.
That combination — Washington experience, television exposure and an unapologetically pro-Trump message — could make Jennings an attractive choice for an administration that has increasingly relied on aggressive media surrogates.
There is just one problem: Trump reportedly wants a woman.
That preference has opened the door to a crowded field of female contenders, including Natalie Harp, former Trump attorney Alina Habba, DHS press secretary Katie Zacharia, former DHS press secretary Tricia McLaughlin, RNC spokesperson Elizabeth Pipko and former Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Davari.
Harp’s name has attracted particular attention. The young Trump aide has been the subject of increasing media scrutiny because of her unusually close relationship with the president, and she is reportedly among those being considered for the press secretary position.
Other names reportedly in the mix include Housing chief Bill Pulte, Breitbart’s D.C. bureau chief Matthew Boyle and White House Communications Director Steven Cheung.
For now, however, there is no final decision.
Trump has not named Leavitt’s successor, and other reporting suggests the president may still be weighing his options rather than rushing to pick someone.
Leavitt, 28, announced that she will leave the job at the end of August so she can spend more time with her young family.
