Zacharia out as White House press secretary after five days
Washington: Katie Zacharia is out as White House press secretary after five days on the job, US media reported on Friday (local time), citing administration officials, giving her what is believed to be the shortest tenure of anyone in the post.
CNN, citing advisers to the president, reported that President Donald Trump had fired her. NBC News quoted a senior administration official as saying Zacharia was “transitioning into a new role” that would be announced later.
The departure came hours after Trump, speaking to reporters on the South Lawn before leaving the White House, said he had asked her whether she wanted to stay in the job.
“Katie’s been treated very badly by the media, very, very badly, very unfairly, I think. And I just spoke to her about it,” Trump said.
“Just two minutes ago, I said, ‘Katie, you know, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want.’ She said, ‘This is a lot tougher.’ I said, ‘Welcome to the world of Trump.’ I’m going to let her make that decision,” he said.
Zacharia, a conservative commentator and former senior communications adviser at Trump Media & Technology Group, took over on Monday, Oct 12, and held her first briefing on Tuesday. Trump picked her on Oct 8 to succeed Karoline Leavitt, who left at the end of August.
Her maiden briefing lasted less than 15 minutes. She announced that Trump had asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign as US ambassador to Greece, but could not say whether Washington had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine.
She also faced questions this week over her legal credentials. Trump had described her as an attorney, but a senior administration official confirmed on Thursday that she had not passed the California bar exam, NBC News reported.
No successor has been named. NBC News, citing two people familiar with Trump’s thinking, said he was unlikely to pick a new press secretary soon. The vacancy comes less than three weeks before the Nov 3 midterm elections.
Her stint was shorter than that of Anthony Scaramucci, who served 11 days as White House communications director in Trump’s first term. “Records are made to be broken. But I take no please in other people’s pain,” Scaramucci posted on X.