Former press secretary Katie Zacharia said she was left “perplexed” after Sean Hannity challenged her credentials during what she described as a hostile interview.
Zacharia, 42, appeared on Hannity’s Fox News program on October 15, days after a disastrous first press briefing. She stumbled over her words, took only three questions and ended the session after 15 minutes, despite briefings typically lasting about an hour.
She had apparently expected a more cordial exchange after Hannity publicly defended the embattled press secretary on his program.
“Zacharia’s being mocked,” he said two days before her appearance. “She’s been attacked over her appearance, her hair, the way she spoke. They questioned her intelligence, her credentials. They even asked about her bar exam.”
Yet when Zacharia joined him on air, Hannity pressed her on those same credentials, including her description of herself as a lawyer despite never passing the bar exam.
Newsmax host Rob Finnerty later suggested that someone at the White House may have authorized Hannity to question Zacharia so aggressively. Fox News and Hannity have both denied the claim.
“Katie, I was shocked by the Hannity treatment, if I’m being honest,” Finnerty told Zacharia during her first interview since leaving the White House.
“I don’t think he does that if he doesn’t get the green light from somebody, perhaps at the White House,” he added. “I don’t know, what do you make of this narrative that Fox did this on purpose?”
Ousted former press secretary Katie Zacharia told Newsmax host Rob Finnerty that she was left “perplexed” after Sean Hannity questioned her credentials earlier this month.
Zacharia appeared on Hannity’s Fox News program on October 15 after a disastrous first press briefing in which she stumbled over her words and cut the usually hour-long session to 15 minutes after taking just three questions.
Interview branded unexpectedly ‘hostile’
Zacharia also revealed that Hannity’s team had offered her a position as a California correspondent earlier in the year.
“I’m just as perplexed about what happened, specifically with Sean Hannity,” she replied.
Finnerty asked whether Hannity’s team had raised questions about her credentials when it offered her the job.
“I doubt that he had any interest in your educational background at that point when you had that call,” he said. “Is that accurate? Is that fair?”
“We never had a conversation about my educational background,” Zacharia confirmed.
Finnerty then asked whether she would appear on Hannity’s show again.
“Look, I never bow away from a fight or back away from a fight,” she responded.
“I’ve been on CNN. I’ve debated some of the most hostile, not anchors, but guests. And I’ve been able to do it with grace, with dignity and walk away and even maintain decorum,” Zacharia said. She added that she would have been better prepared if she had arranged an interview with someone such as CNN’s Jake Tapper.
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“But because I had had a very friendly rapport with Sean, and he had even made very backing statements about me on Tuesday, October 13th, really coming to my defense, I was not prepared for the hostility that I received.”
During the Hannity interview, Zacharia attempted to explain why she had referred to herself as a “lawyer” while the Fox News host questioned her professional credentials.
She then admitted that she failed the bar exam on her first try, and confirmed she never took the exam a second time.
Zacharia explains failed bar exam
‘For background, I graduated Pepperdine, got married in the same week, we had all intent to move out to China,’ Zacharia explained to Hannity, giving the backstory on why she failed.
‘I had already pre-registered for the bar exam, basically during the summer I had learned I was moving to China so the results would be inconsequential.’
Hannity also challenged Zacharia’s short briefing, asking: ‘Why only three questions in 14 minutes?’ before warning her that the White House briefing room would ‘never be a friendly room to you.’
She then tried to explain that it had been a whirlwind week for her, having only interviewed for the job one week before she was asked to give her first briefing.
‘I had been on the job for one day and instead of taking questions, probably should’ve stepped aside,’ she told Hannity, while adding she feels ‘I did my very best to deliver for the American people.’
She said the right thing to do might have been to just give ‘a brief intro’ to the press corps and noted she had only been on the job ‘for eight hours.’
But just one day after giving the interview, Zacharia was brutally ousted from her position at the White House, making her the shortest-serving press secretary in White House history.
‘The best is yet to come’
Still, Zacharia said she remains ‘ruthlessly loyal’ to President Donald Trump.
‘It was an honor to work for President Trump, and no one has been more relentlessly attacked by the media than him,’ she previously told Newsweek.
Zacharia then vowed that ‘the best is yet to come,’ and said her week in the Trump administration included working ‘around the clock’ ahead of the midterm elections.
‘As Rudyard Kipling wrote, “If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch.” After a week with him on the midterm blitz, I saw that in action,’ Zacharia said.
‘Working around the clock with world leaders – bringing hostages home and brokering peace – while speaking to crowds of Americans to win the midterms and deliver for the people.
‘No one has carried the water for the Republican Party and America First like he has for over a decade, all without losing the common touch.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to Fox News for comment.
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