Former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia was seen in Los Angeles after her five-day spell in the administration ended abruptly.
The 41-year-old was asked to resign on Friday, following a widely criticized first press briefing and revelations that she had never passed the bar exam, despite presenting herself as an attorney.
On Monday, the mother of four stepped out in Los Angeles, California, wearing a blue-and-red workout outfit that highlighted her toned abs and bore a striking resemblance to the costumes associated with Superwoman and Superman.
The outing marked her first public appearance since she was dramatically removed from the position on Friday.
Over the weekend, reports claimed Zacharia had been speaking with a Wall Street Journal reporter when a colleague pulled her aside.
She excused herself, telling the reporter she would be gone for only a few minutes, but never returned.
Soon afterward, her new boss, President Trump, answered questions from reporters at his new helipad and said he had asked Zacharia to reconsider taking the job.
‘I said, “Is this for you Katie? Because honestly, you don’t need this,”‘ Trump told reporters.
Asked whether he still had confidence in her, the president replied: ‘I don’t know. We’ll see. I’m gonna let her make that decision.’
Katie Zacharia was seen in Los Angeles, California, on Monday wearing a blue-and-red exercise outfit that showed off her toned abs
The appearance came after Zacharia was dramatically removed from the role on Friday
Katie Zacharia was photographed in workout clothes in Los Angeles on Tuesday, marking her first public sighting since leaving the White House press secretary role after just five days
Trump’s comments signaled the end of what became the shortest tenure by a White House press secretary in US history.
Her time in the position was even briefer than Anthony Scaramucci’s notorious 11-day run as White House communications director in 2017, during Trump’s first term.
Earlier this year, Zacharia had spent only six weeks as a communications adviser at the Department of Homeland Security.
Her week-long stint as press secretary was both swift and turbulent. The sole briefing she held lasted just 14 minutes and was widely ridiculed online.
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Even typically Trump-friendly Fox News hosts questioned her performance, which stood in sharp contrast to that of her predecessor, Karoline Leavitt. Leavitt resigned in August after a successful 18 months in the role.
Zacharia struggled with her prepared remarks, repeatedly stumbling and stuttering. At one point, she referred to the president as her husband.
Her appointment as press secretary had surprised many. Her background included six weeks at Homeland Security, appearances on conservative media, a position at Trump Media and a legal career that soon faced scrutiny.
When asked earlier in the week whether she had passed the bar exam, Zacharia said she had taken it in China, where she worked after graduating from Pepperdine University Law School.
That baffled reporters since the test isn’t offered there, and US citizens typically cannot take Chinese legal exams.
She later cleared up that she never passed the bar exam since it wasn’t necessary for her job in China, where the US qualification would not have carried water.
Zacharia is seen here during her first and only press briefing last week
Her rocky first and only briefing, which lasted just 14 minutes, was widely mocked online, and even Fox News hosts questioned her performance
Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt she stepped down from the role in late August
In a tense interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday night, she acknowledged that she failed the California bar exam in 2011, never retook it and considered the results inconsequential.
As the segment ended, she promised Hannity she would be very prepared going forward and would step up to the duty the President had given her.
In an interview on Friday morning with Fox News about her ‘tough week,’ Zacharia was pressed unusually hard by the hosts once again about why she’s described herself as an attorney in the past.
‘It’s not an easy job to be the press secretary, and you never want to be the story,’ Fox & Friends host Lawrence Jones said. ‘But I have to ask, do you wish you would have disclosed to the president about the bar and not passing the bar?’
‘Well, Lawrence, those questions weren’t asked,’ Zacharia shot back.
‘I’m being hired as White House press secretary and not White House counsel. The conversations and the reason I was hired was to represent the President in the press.’
The President made the decision to hire Zacharia during a 72-hour period last week without consulting his chief of staff Susie Wiles, The Daily Mail previously reported.