Katie Zacharia leaving as White House press secretary after five days
Katie Zacharia is transitioning out of the White House press secretary job after a rocky first week marked by a 14-minute debut briefing and questions about her legal credentials, a person familiar with the matter told the Associated Press. President Donald Trump had said earlier Friday that if he were her, he would reconsider.
What happened: Zacharia is departing as press secretary, a person familiar with the matter said Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel decision not yet made public, the AP reported. Her first official day on the job was Monday. Trump announced her appointment on Oct. 9 as the successor to Karoline Leavitt. The BBC said hers is the quickest exit among Trump’s White House press team; Anthony Scaramucci left as communications director after 10 days in Trump’s first term.
Trump’s comments: Before the news broke, Trump told reporters on the White House lawn, as he left for a rally in Georgia, that he had advised her to think again. “Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider,” he said, according to the AP. He said she had been treated unfairly by the press and that they would talk when he returned from campaign travel. Asked who might replace her, he said a lot of people wanted the job, the AP reported.
The briefing and the bar exam: Zacharia’s inaugural briefing on Tuesday lasted about 14 minutes, and she took questions from three reporters, all from conservative-leaning or Trump-friendly outlets, the AP reported. Asked by a reporter where she passed the bar exam, she pointed to her time in China, the BBC reported; after media scrutiny, she acknowledged Thursday that she had not passed the bar. In a statement, she said she had practiced international transaction law in China with the “appropriate credentials,” according to the BBC. Zacharia, a Pepperdine University law graduate, had described herself as a lawyer as a commentator on conservative television and said the term was proper when offering legal analysis, the AP reported.
Her response: On Fox News on Friday, asked whether she had the president’s confidence, Zacharia did not answer directly and said she hoped to build the confidence and trust of those around her, the AP and BBC reported. She said she was not asked about passing the bar before becoming press secretary, and Trump noted she was hired as a spokesperson, not an attorney, the AP said. Hours after the news, she praised Trump on X as “kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and the most hardworking man,” the BBC reported. The White House offered no immediate comment, according to the AP.
Why it matters now: The exit comes weeks before the November midterm elections, and Democrats seized on it. “The White House Press Secretary is gone. Maga extremists continue to fall apart,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries posted on X, the BBC reported. Trump has not named a successor.