A new post of Karoline Leavitt’s husband has fans doing a double take.
The White House press secretary recently shared a photographic recap of her family’s Fourth of July weekend on Instagram. Leavitt’s July 7 post had seven pictures in the carousel — four of which included her spouse, Nicholas Riccio. From the looks of it, they had quite an eventful holiday weekend with their 11-month-old-son, Niko. But, similarly to her previous family photos, Riccio became a focal point in the comment section accompanying the post.
One person wrote, “He looks black from behind. Then I thought wait a minute, she’s not faithful after all. Then I saw other pictures. I bet she loves black men though.”
The first photo — which was taken from behind — showed Leavitt holding her son on her hip while walking hand-in-hand with her husband.
Another fan said, “Your dad is so handsome.”
But other fans continued with their running jokes about Leavitt and Riccio’s age gap. Riccio is 60 years old, while Leavitt is 27 — which also makes her the youngest White House press secretary in history. Because Leavitt works in the political space, criticism and scrutiny is inescapable, and a lot of ways people take jabs at her is by mentioning the more than 30-year age gap between her and her husband.
One person said, “Barbie at the White House with sugar daddy. So 2025.”
A second wrote, “You spend a lot of time with your grandad.”
A third said, “Nice pic of you and your Dad.”
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Leavitt was shown attending a baseball game with her son in the second and third photos. Her husband was nowhere to be found in those images but President Donald Trump’s Special Assistant and Communications Advisor, Margo Martin, accompanied her.
In the fourth and sixth pictures, Riccio appeared again. This time he and his son were the only ones in fram,e spending some daddy-son time together. In the fifth photo, the parents got their own photos without their son in it on the beach. But their son, Nicholas Jr. reappeared in the seventh photo in a solo shot sitting on beach sand.
For the caption she wrote, “Best weekend of the year celebrating the best country in the world.”
Since taking on the role as Trump’s press secretary, Leavitt has been pretty good about ignoring the jokes and gibes about her marriage.
She also addressed the elephant in the room head on during her February interview on “The Megyn Kelly Show.”
“It’s a very atypical love story,” she said, “but he’s incredible. He is my greatest supporter. He’s my best friend. He’s my rock.”
“He’s the father of my child and he’s the best dad I could ever ask for,” she said. “And he is so supportive, especially during a very chaotic period of life… I say, ‘I walked into your life and it’s been a circus ever since,’ but God bless him because he’s fully on board.”
Leavitt and Riccio met in 2022 during her congressional campaign to represent the New Hampshire 1st District. The next year they got engaged in December and in January 2025 they tied the knot.
‘He Looks Black’: Trump’s Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s New Family Photo Raises Eyebrows As Confused Fans Zoom In on Husband’s Glow-Up