Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt offered a pointed assessment of Katie Zacharia’s brief, one-week run in the position she once held.
“The job obviously was not for her, but we wish her and her family well,” Leavitt told Fox News Digital backstage during a Turning Point USA campus tour stop at California Polytechnic State University.
Leavitt said President Donald Trump was still weighing potential candidates for the role. She also said she had offered her own experience to assist him in selecting Zacharia’s successor.
Speaking to students on campus, Leavitt also described the intense preparation behind her first White House press briefing after becoming Trump’s initial press secretary during his second term.
“I prepared like heck for that first briefing,” Leavitt said.
“I poured myself into my preparation. I read, I studied, I talked to every Cabinet member, I talked to the president. I just absorbed as much information as this noggin up here could.”
Her remarks came after Zacharia’s time in the White House press secretary’s office ended only days after a shaky first appearance behind the briefing-room podium.
Trump first reached out to Zacharia about the position on October 7 and announced her appointment two days later, on October 9.
“The job obviously was not for her, but we wish her and her family well,” former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said of her successor, Katie Zacharia
Zacharia’s first briefing lasted only 14 minutes and included questions from just three reporters
Trump announced Leavitt’s appointment on November 15, 2024, while he was still president-elect. She did not hold her first White House briefing until January 28, 2025, leaving her more than two months to prepare
Zacharia formally started the job on October 12 and appeared before reporters for the first time the next day.
That debut lasted approximately 14 minutes, with only three journalists given the opportunity to ask questions.
Trump nevertheless defended her performance, telling reporters, “I thought she did excellent. She did very good.”
The appointment soon drew scrutiny, particularly over Zacharia’s limited time to prepare and her experience dealing with the White House press corps.
Questions also emerged about her legal background after reports noted that she had not passed California’s bar examination in 2011.
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Following the exam, Zacharia relocated to Beijing with her husband and worked for a Chinese law firm.
Although she never passed the bar, Zacharia regularly appeared on television as a legal analyst, discussing legal and political matters while referring to herself as a lawyer.
Her troubled debut was followed by a tense appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program on October 15. The interview came just hours before she was removed from the position the next day.
Hannity questioned her aggressively about the widely criticized briefing and challenged her repeated description of herself as a lawyer despite her failure to pass the California bar exam.
He challenged her explanation for the 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.’
Zacharia defended herself by blaming the whirlwind hiring process and lack of preparation time, but the combative interview added to the scrutiny surrounding her brief tenure.
As Leavitt reflects upon her first briefing, the lack of preparation on Zacharia’s end gave a major disadvantage.
Trump announced Leavitt’s appointment on November 15, 2024, while he was still president-elect.
She didn’t deliver her first White House press briefing until January 28, 2025, giving her more than two months between the announcement and her debut.
Leavitt, who was 27 when she took the job, became the youngest White House press secretary in history.
Her first briefing lasted around 46 minutes, during which she took questions on the administration’s agenda and media access.
Leavitt announced her departure from the role on August 12, attributing the decision to wanting to spend more time with her growing family.
Trump praised Leavitt as one of his most trusted aides and said he understood her decision to spend more time with her family.
She also agreed to remain an outside adviser to the president.
Now, however, Leavitt is preparing for a return to the national spotlight.
Fox News announced on October 5 that she would join the network as an on-air contributor, providing political analysis and commentary across its platforms beginning November 1.