Katie Zacharia, Donald Trump's new White House press secretary, was fired on Friday, just five days after she assumed the role, according to a White House official. Zacharia confirmed her own departure on social media Friday evening, writing that it had been "an honor" to work for the president.
A 14-minute debut that unraveled fast
Zacharia, a little-known conservative commentator before her appointment, came under immediate scrutiny after a widely panned inaugural briefing on Tuesday that lasted just 14 minutes. She stumbled through prepared remarks, at one point mistakenly referring to her husband as "the president," and left the podium after taking questions from only three outlets, mostly conservative ones. The rocky debut was quickly followed by questions about her professional background: Zacharia had described herself publicly as a "lawyer" and been identified by the White House as an "attorney," but admitted this week that she had never passed the bar exam after a single attempt. She defended the distinction, arguing "attorney" refers specifically to someone licensed to practice law.
The scrutiny intensified in a pair of combative Fox News appearances. On Thursday evening, host Sean Hannity pressed her on the briefing: "What happened? How did you feel it went personally?" Zacharia said she had little time to prepare between accepting the job and facing the press. On Friday morning, Fox & Friends host Lawrence Jones asked bluntly whether she still had the president's confidence. "I'm standing here," she replied.
Trump says he told her to "reconsider"
Speaking with reporters outside the White House on Friday, Trump recounted a conversation with Zacharia in which he suggested she step back from the role.
"I said, 'Is this for you, Katie? Because honestly, you don't need it.' I said to her, 'Honestly, if I were you, I'd reconsider. You think about it, but I would reconsider.'"
Donald Trump, US President
Trump said Zacharia had been "treated very badly by the media," singling out Hannity and the Fox & Friends hosts as "a little tough," and said he wanted his outgoing press secretary "to be happy." He added that he was in "no rush" to name a replacement. Zacharia, who previously advised Trump Media Group and had a brief stint as a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, replaces Karoline Leavitt, who left the post in August to spend more time with her young children. According to the BBC's analysis of her tenure, Zacharia's five days in the job set a modern record for the shortest-serving White House press secretary.
The abrupt exit lands amid broader turbulence for the administration less than a month before the midterm elections, including the resignation of US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle over corruption allegations and an abandoned plan to publicly air a December military execution after bipartisan backlash. Before taking the job, Zacharia had herself observed on social media that "President Trump does not need a spokesperson. He is his own best press secretary" — a dynamic that, as the Guardian detailed, left her little room to establish her own footing before the presidency's critics and allies alike turned the story into one about her.
