Katie Zacharia stood by her debut White House press briefing while acknowledging that she was not fully prepared and may have been better off stepping aside instead of taking questions.
The newly appointed White House press secretary faced harsh criticism after her first appearance before reporters in Washington, DC.
During an interview with Fox News on Thursday evening, Zacharia described the week as a whirlwind. She said she had interviewed for the position only the previous Wednesday and had been in the role for just one day when she faced the press.
“I had been on the job for one day and instead of taking questions, probably should’ve stepped aside,” she told Sean Hannity. Still, Zacharia said she believed she had done everything she could to serve the American people.
In hindsight, she said she might have been better served by offering the press corps only “a brief intro,” pointing out that she had been working for roughly eight hours.
Zacharia also declined to blame her staff for the troubled briefing.
“Given I’d been on the job for less than maybe eight hours, and had a briefing book in the morning, I feel like I did my very best, Sean, to deliver for the American people that day,” she said.
When asked whether she would approach the event differently, Zacharia promised to arrive better prepared for future briefings.
Katie Zacharia defended her first White House press briefing while acknowledging that she was underprepared and might have been wiser to step aside rather than take questions.
The new White House press secretary faced severe criticism after her first encounter with the Washington press corps.
“What I would say is I would absolutely be very well prepared on the briefing,” Zacharia said. She added that she welcomed questions and hoped to build a meaningful relationship with members of the press corps. “I will be very prepared, Sean, and I will step up to the duty that President Trump has asked me to do as press secretary.”
Zacharia also pointed to one piece of news she delivered during the briefing: the resignation of Kimberly Guilfoyle. She said she was “one of the first press secretaries to deliver staff changes.”
She further defended referring to herself as a “lawyer,” despite acknowledging that she never passed the bar exam after failing on her first attempt.
“For background, I graduated Pepperdine, got married in the same week, and we had all intent to move out to China,” she said, explaining the circumstances surrounding the failed exam.
Zacharia said she had already registered for the exam before learning that she would be relocating to China, making the eventual result less important to her at the time.
She confirmed that she never sat for the bar exam a second time.
The 42-year-old press secretary’s first appearance was a difficult one. She stumbled over several words and ended the normally hour-long briefing after just 15 minutes. However, our Elina Shirazi managed to ask one question that confirmed the fate of embattled Greek ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle.
Former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci was among those who weighed in on Zacharia’s performance. Scaramucci was famously dismissed by the president after only 11 days in the role.
Speaking with Fox News on Thursday night, Zacharia said the week had moved at remarkable speed: she interviewed for the post just one week earlier and had been in the job for only a day.
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Officially, the White House press shop is calling the performance ‘commanding.’
‘Katie is a fabulous and wonderful addition to the team,’ White House spokesperson Steven Cheung told the Daily Mail when reached for comment.
‘She is uniquely qualified and whip smart to help inform the American people about all the great things President Trump and his Administration have been doing, and she will do an incredible job as Press Secretary.’
Trump himself, asked by reporters later in the day, offered a six-word verdict: ‘I thought she was very good.’
By early Tuesday afternoon, Zacharia was aboard Air Force One, bound for Alaska on her first official trip with the president.
Zacharia’s path to the podium was as abrupt as her exit from it.
Trump plucked her off television after months of watching her defend him on Fox News and Newsmax, making the offer himself in an out-of-the-blue phone call.
Three days later, her hiring was announced on Truth Social without running it past Wiles.
Zacharia started in politics as a college intern for the Republican National Committee.
She earned her undergraduate degree at Pepperdine’s Seaver College before going on to its Caruso School of Law, then launched a career in corporate and political advocacy.
Her experience also includes working in the White House Office of Political Affairs during the Bush administration and spending three years in China working as an outside counsel for the World Bank.
Her husband Tyler served as a producer on movies like The Irishman, Countdown, The Starling, The Desperate Hour and Homestead, among others.
While Zacharia often flaunts her glamorous endeavors on her Instagram, where she has racked up more than 42,000 followers, she is fiercely private when it comes to her family life and has kept her kids completely off social media.
In addition, she has been outspoken about the backlash she has faced in the past for supporting Trump.
‘Being in the world of politics, whether directly or adjacent, is BRUTAL and I personally take DAILY heat for it,’ Zacharia wrote in an Instagram post in September.
She went on to explain that she tries to ‘keep her family away from the flame,’ but gushed over how ‘proud’ she was of her husband’s work.