Katie Zacharia is out as White House press secretary after a week in the job, according to multiple news reports, following a first briefing that drew criticism and questions about whether she had overstated her legal credentials.
A senior White House official confirmed to Fortune that Zacharia is out, after less than a week since accepting the job and less than five days since appearing behind the world’s most famous podium.
The New York Times, citing three people familiar with the matter, reported Friday that Trump had fired her. CNN reported the same, citing advisers. Fox News quoted a senior White House official saying she is “transitioning out.” Trump told reporters he had urged her to “reconsider” the job.
Trump named Zacharia, a conservative commentator and adviser to the company that runs Truth Social, on Oct. 9 to replace Karoline Leavitt, who left at the end of August. Her only briefing, on Tuesday, was short, and she took three questions. She later told Fox News’s Sean Hannity she “probably should have stepped aside” instead of taking questions without time to prepare.
She also drew scrutiny for calling herself a lawyer after failing the bar exam, which she called “somewhat inconsequential” because she would not need to be licensed while living in China.
Zacharia on Thursday defended her legal background and justified her truncated inaugural briefing as she navigates a rocky first week as the president’s chief spokeswoman.
Zacharia sat down for interviews with conservative media. She told the conservative Human Events outlet that she did not have time to get fully prepared ahead of her first briefing on Tuesday and that it was always the plan to keep it short because President Donald Trump would field questions from journalists later that morning.
“It was absolutely my goal to keep it short, considering he is his own best spokesperson, and he would love — and does love — gaggling with the media as he goes to Marine One,” Zacharia said. “So I wanted to give ample deference and not barge into his time.”
The initial briefing materials were given to Zacharia on Monday evening, then completed Tuesday at 8 a.m., less than two hours before she would appear before the White House press corps. She had been up since 3 a.m. preparing, Zacharia said.
“I never had a full briefing beforehand, and I went out and I effectuated the briefing,” she said.
Later, speaking to Fox News commentator Sean Hannity, she said she “probably should have stepped aside” instead of taking questions from the press corps without having time to prepare.
“I could have just given a brief intro and said, ‘I’m only here to introduce myself, and I want to engage with the press corps,’” she said.
Zacharia calls failure to pass bar exam ‘inconsequential’
As for her legal background, Zacharia said she was preparing to take the bar exam in California at a time that she had just gotten married and was readying a move to China to join her new husband, who had been working in private equity in Beijing.
“I was obviously incredibly distracted and overwhelmed and excited for finally being married to someone who I’d been long distance from for at least a year,” Zacharia said.
She said the results of the bar exam, which she did not pass, were “somewhat inconsequential” because she would not need to be a barred attorney while living in China.
Zacharia, who has been under scrutiny for calling herself a “lawyer,” said she consulted several legal experts to ensure that title was accurate when offering legal analysis.
“It’s unfortunate that people dub this as some kind of conspiracy or want to put me in a camp. The truth is, I was very careful how I executed this, and I never came across as someone who was an attorney-at-law.”
She will not weigh in on legal matters in her White House capacity, Zacharia said.
She says she didn’t lobby for the job
She also divulged details of how she went about securing the White House press secretary job. Zacharia stressed that she did not want to be seen as lobbying for the position, left vacant when Karoline Leavitt announced she would depart the administration to spend more time with her family.
Zacharia, who was a communications adviser for the company that runs Truth Social, said she closely monitored the president’s social media posts to determine what was top of mind for him, then would go on air to talk about those topics.
“My philosophy is, I’m on TV enough where if he sees me and he likes me, then I will be recruited for the job. I do not believe that lobbying for that job would have been successful, and I wanted to work for it. I wanted to audition for it.”
Then on Oct. 7, as Zacharia was preparing to take one of her children to a pumpkin patch, she received a phone call from Trump about the press secretary position.
She promptly flew out the next day from her home in California to Washington, met with the president about the job on Friday and formally accepted the position later that day.
___
Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed.
