Press Secretary Katie Zacharia Out After One Rocky Week at the Podium
Fox News reports the new White House press secretary was pushed out after a 14-minute debut briefing and questions about her legal credentials.
It was one of the shortest tenures in the history of the briefing room.
According to Fox News, Katie Zacharia was named White House press secretary on Oct. 9 and stepped behind the podium for her first briefing on Oct. 13. It lasted 14 minutes, and she took questions from only three journalists. Fox reports that she stumbled several times, including a moment when she mistakenly referred to her husband as "my president" before correcting herself.
By Friday, President Trump was publicly telling her to reconsider. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to… I think you should reconsider," he said he told her, according to Fox. "Maybe it's not for her," Trump added. Asked whether that meant he fired her, he backed off: "No no. I want her to have a good life." He said she had been "brutalized by the media." The New York Post reports Trump said he intends to keep her in the administration "in some form, but maybe a more pleasant form." Fox reports that she was pushed out of the job on Friday.
The scrutiny of her credentials did the real damage. Trump had described her as an attorney when announcing her appointment. On "Hannity" Thursday night, Zacharia admitted she did not pass the bar exam and never obtained a law license in the United States. She explained that she had pre-registered for the exam and sat for it only to avoid a withdrawn status, since she knew she would be living in China that summer.
Zacharia defended her debut. "I really stepped up to the plate with very little prep time," she said. "I'd been on the job less than maybe eight hours and had a briefing book in the morning." An unnamed White House official told MS NOW she could end up with a shorter tenure than Anthony Scaramucci's 10 days, and Fox reports the official warned she would "break Scaramucci's record" unless she improved fast.
Late Friday she posted on X that "it was an honor" to serve and that "President Trump is a kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and hardworking man."
The lesson is old but worth repeating: the podium is unforgiving, and so is the vetting.