Donald Trump’s Kayleigh McEnany wannabe press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, caused a stir at a press conference on February 12. Not only did Leavitt have a fake tan blunder, but she also showed off her impressive engagement ring. While holding up documents to present to the media, Leavitt unconsciously flashed her bling. She first showed off the hardware when she got engaged to her husband, Nicholas Riccio, in December 2023. “I get to marry the man of my dreams. I feel SO overwhelmingly BLESSED. Thank you God,” Leavitt wrote in an Instagram post that included a photo of Riccio popping the question and a close-up of the pricey ring.
Following the press conference, Nicki Swift’s sister site The List reached out to diamond expert Mike Fried, CEO of The Diamond Pro, to find out the price tag on the expensive-looking piece. “Karoline’s ring appears to feature a 3-carat round diamond set on a four-prong Cathedral setting,” Fried said. As we assumed, her hefty bling did not come cheap. “I estimate the value to be near $90,000, depending on the diamond’s quality,” the diamond expert added. Not only was Leavitt rocking a jaw-dropping rock — her wedding band substantially upped the value of her bejeweled ring finger. “Karoline is also wearing an eternity wedding band lined with diamonds, and I estimate the value could be up to $10,000,” Fried stated.
It should not come as a surprise that Riccio could afford to drop six figures on a ring, as he is a successful real estate investor. Not only has he forked over money for jewelry, but he has also contributed to Leavitt’s political career. While she has certainly benefitted from her marriage to the wealthy real estate investor, it has led to her taking heat online.
People troll Karoline Leavitt over her jewelry and her marriage age gap
Karoline Leavitt’s engagement ring isn’t her only piece of jewelry that has had people talking since she became Donald Trump’s press secretary. She wore a large Jesus cross pendant during a presser in January, which brought the ire of Democratic Congress member Dave Min. In response to a video clip of Leavitt falsely claiming that taxpayer funds were being sent to Gaza for condoms, he tweeted, “… she said while wearing a giant cross to let everyone know how pious and moral she is, even as she is so comfortable stating a bald faced lie to hundreds of millions of people.” In a follow-up tweet, he called Leavitt “a Fake Christian.” His incendiary comment did not go unnoticed by Leavitt. “My Christian faith is a huge part of my life,” she told the New York Post on February 8. “My faith, my marriage, my family life — it’s everything to me.”
The trolling was not limited to her faith, as Leavitt has also taken heat for the sizable age gap she has with Nicholas Riccio — who is 32 years her senior. “Karoline Leavitt, 27, married a 60 year old Real Estate developer in 2023 and promptly had a child. I’m sure his money had nothing to do with it,” one X user tweeted. The press secretary has also faced backlash on Instagram for posting pics of her and her baby, but not her husband. “Are you a single mom?? No pics of your baby daddy anywhere?” one Instagram user wrote.
In an attempt to calm the blowback, Leavitt explained on Instagram why she never posts Riccio. “He doesn’t have social media and he’s an introvert (complete opposite of me),” she wrote. “I respect his privacy on here.”
