Karoline Leavitt’s husband has asserted an “alpha presence” during an Instagram photo shoot at the White House alongside his wife and son.

Karoline Leavitt has gone viral for her post with her kid. (Image: Instagram)

A recent Instagram photo of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt outside the West Wing is going viral.

In the post, Leavitt is seen holding her baby son, Nicholas Robert Niko Riccio, while beaming at the camera. Her husband, Nicholas Riccio, stands beside her, both of them smiling widely. The moment was sweet but also full of energy, and according to body language expert Judi James, it speaks volumes.

“Nicholas leans back cradling his small baby with a look of open-mouth delight,” James told the Irish Star. “He presents a bit of an alpha presence in his retro pinstripe that matches Nico’s little outfit and holds the baby’s foot to suggest he’s protective of this little mini-me.”

Leavitt, dressed in a soft blue pantsuit, leans in close, her head next to her baby’s, as she smiles with pride. “Karoline leans in to hold her head next to her baby’s with a fun expression of pride in both her child and her husband,” James explains. “She looks delighted to be showing them both off to the camera here, and the three smiles make them look like a happy family unit.”

The body expert stated the husband is “protective of this little mini-me” in the photo. Karoline Leavitt (Image: Instagram)

The family moment has went viral online, quickly racking up more than 160,000 likes and thousands of comments. One user wrote: “It’s the one sock off one sock on for me what an absolute cutie! He’ll grow up so proud of his mama.”

Leavitt became the youngest person in history to serve as White House Press Secretary. She and Riccio met in 2022 during her congressional campaign in New Hampshire. Though she won the Republican primary, she ultimately lost to Democrat Chris Pappas.

“A mutual friend of ours hosted an event at a restaurant that he owns up in New Hampshire and invited my husband,” Leavitt said in a February 2025 interview on The Megyn Kelly Show. “I was speaking. We met and we were acquainted as friends.”

Their relationship blossomed from there. They welcomed their son Niko in July 2024 and married six months later, just before President Donald Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025.

While their 32-year age gap has drawn attention, Leavitt remains unfazed. “I mean, it’s a very atypical love story, but he’s incredible,” she told Kelly. “He’s built a very successful business himself, so now he’s fully supportive of me building my success in my career.”