Coming off Wednesday’s news that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will step down to focus on being a mother to her toddler and newborn, Jen Psaki, who held the same role under President Joe Biden, empathized with the decision.

“Let me say one thing about her though: I was communications director when I had a baby. It is very hard to do that, and she has a toddler, and she just had a newborn,” Psaki said. “I don’t know her, I don’t know all of the reasons, but I certainly understand the difficulty of trying to balance those things.”

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday on Truth Social that Leavitt will be stepping down at the end of August to spend more time with her growing family and will continue to serve as one of his top outside advisors.

“Our wonderful White House Press Secretary, and one of my most trusted aides, Karoline Leavitt, will be departing her role at the end of the month so she can spend more time with her beautiful young children and family, a decision I totally understand and respect!,” Trump wrote.

Praising Leavitt’s work in the administration, Trump added that she “will continue on as one of my TOP outside Advisors, and will remain an influential voice within the Republican Party as we head into the Midterms.”

Joining MS NOW’s “State of Play” on Thursday, Psaki reflected on Leavitt’s legacy and whether or not she lived up to her rule of never lying as press secretary. Psaki determined that her successor did not “because you have an audience of one. Donald Trump is her audience.”

“He clearly loves her, as far as we know. She is very good at commanding that room,” Psaki continued. “Though I will say, the room has massively changed since I was there. It’s much more filled with people who are there to kind of applaud Donald Trump and people who are there to spit out the Republican given talking points than the room I was working in.”

Leavitt’s exit also notably came just one day after The Washington Post reported that Trump utilized Air Force One as a decoy plane while under an assassination threat from Iran as he left the NATO Summit in Turkey last month. Sneaking out on a catering truck, the president left members of the press and his staff — including Leavitt — behind on the decoy plane that was reportedly under threat.

Of the moment, Psaki said that Leavitt works for the president but her responsibility is also “to the press,” and none were informed of the secret swap until the Post’s reporting.

“He would’ve kept it secret had it not been reported out,” Psaki said.

Watch Psaki’s full “State of Play” interview below: