Age gap? No problem for the White House staff: Trump, Leavitt and Patel are rewriting the rules of love in D.C.
Age-gap romances in Trump’s circle spark buzz, as officials like Kash Patel and Karoline Leavitt date partners decades younger. Love or controversy?
Problematic age gap or love is love? As some of Washington’s latest fixtures’ romantic lives come to light, the age differences between administration officials and their spouses have raised eyebrows.
Perhaps some within the administration take their boss, President Trump, as a role model. Now 79, Donald Trump met Melania, then 28, when he was 52. Though the First Lady initially rejected his advances, she was eventually persuaded to take his number and give him a call. In her memoir, she wrote: “He wanted my number, but he was with a date, so of course I didn’t give it to him. I said, ‘I am not giving you my number; you give me yours, and I will call you.’” She added: “I was struck by his energy. He has an amazing sense of vitality.”
This week, FBI Director Kash Patel’s relationship with 26-year-old country music singer Alexis Wilkins made headlines. Patel is 19 years Wilkins’ senior, and the two began dating in early 2023. In addition to her music career, Wilkins has been involved with the conservative content creation company PragerU. In an interview with The Daily Mail, Wilkins referred to the many relationships within Trump’s world with multi-decade age gaps: “There are a lot of people in this administration with age differences. There are a lot of people out there with age differences.”
Another example is the relationship of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, 27, whose husband, Nicholas Riccio, is 59. The two met when Leavitt was running for Congress in New Hampshire in 2022 and welcomed their first child in July 2024, before getting married earlier this year.
Speaking with conservative commentator Megyn Kelly, Leavitt said her husband was supportive of her career, which has taken off since they met, with the 27-year-old quickly becoming one of the most recognizable faces of the administration. “He is so supportive, especially during a very chaotic period of life,” said Leavitt.
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