Katie Zacharia’s tenure as White House press secretary lasted just five days, as new details emerge about the abrupt end of her first week in the role.
Zacharia was thrust into the national spotlight Tuesday morning when she entered the White House briefing room. Her debut was marked by halting delivery, heavily scripted answers and a refusal to take more than three questions.
By Friday, she had been removed from the prestigious position. Earlier that day, Zacharia was speaking with a reporter from the Wall Street Journal in her newly assigned West Wing office.
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump, interrupted the conversation and tapped Zacharia on the shoulder. “JD wanted to chat with us real quick,” he reportedly told her.
Zacharia excused herself and left for the meeting, but never returned to the interview, according to the Wall Street Journal. Minutes later, Trump answered questions from reporters on the White House helipad before leaving for Joint Base Andrews.
Asked to assess Zacharia’s performance, Trump said: “Well, Katie’s been treated very badly by the media.”
The president also described a conversation with Zacharia earlier that day, saying he had urged her to think carefully about whether she wanted to remain in the job.
“I said, ‘Is this for you, Katie? Because honestly, you don’t need this,’” Trump told reporters.
On Friday, Katie Zacharia was called in to meet with the president. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Trump told her. “Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider.”
Zacharia was speaking with the Wall Street Journal on Friday when she was tapped on the shoulder and asked to meet with JD Vance. She was fired later that day.
President Donald Trump said Friday that he advised Zacharia to “reconsider” the press secretary role after a difficult first week.
When asked whether he still had confidence in her, Trump replied: “I don’t know. We’ll see. I’m gonna let her make that decision.”
Trump said he had warned her, “You should reconsider because you don’t wanna go through this,” while accusing the media of treating her “nastily” since her first briefing.
Before reports of her removal surfaced, Zacharia told the Wall Street Journal that there were “no staffing changes that are happening.”
She said she was working to keep the White House communications team “cohesive” and highlighted what she described as a close relationship with the president.
Even as she projected confidence, Zacharia acknowledged that the pace had taken a toll. She said she was surviving on “no sleep and high adrenaline and probably too much caffeine and no food.”
Her brief tenure as press secretary unfolded with remarkable speed. The roughly 14-minute briefing was widely ridiculed online, while hosts on Fox News also questioned her performance.
Zacharia had been an unexpected choice for the post. Her background included six weeks at the Department of Homeland Security, appearances on conservative media, a position at Trump Media and a legal career that had faced scrutiny.
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She had only 24 hours to prepare for her first White House press briefing. In her interview with the Wall Street Journal, she said, “The truth is that I have a hard time saying ‘no’ because I want to be a team player,” while stressing that she was not accusing the White House of forcing her to appear before reporters so quickly.
Trump told reporters Friday that Zacharia had faced intense criticism from the media and revealed that he had advised her to “reconsider” the role.
Presidential advisor Jason Miller tapped Zacharia during her interview with the Wall Street Journal to notify her that JD Vance wanted to chat
A former Trump official described Zacharia as an ‘overwhelmed substitute teacher,’ the Wall Street Journal reported.
Members of the White House communications team told the outlet that she arrived late to a meeting on Friday and stood in the back of the room.
When invited to address her team, she said she was excited to work at the White House and eager to get to know everyone.
However, Zacharia’s allies told the Daily Mail that she knew it was over when she met with Trump on Friday.
White House communications director Steven Cheung later made her departure official, writing that she will be ‘transitioning into a new role that will be announced at a later date.’
The Daily Mail also revealed that Susie Wiles pushed to oust Zacharia after Trump bypassed her during the hiring process.
On Friday night, Zacharia praised Trump in her final act as press secretary, writing in a statement: ‘President Trump is a kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and the most hardworking man.
‘I wish more Americans appreciated him. No one will ever make America great the way he has and continues to. It was an honor to work for him.’
Despite her brutal departure, Zacharia said it was an ‘honor’ to work for Trump and described him as ‘a kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and the most hardworking man’
Despite her short tenure, Zacharia still found controversy during her week in office. After calling herself a lawyer, it was quickly uncovered that she never passed the bar exam.
When asked by a reporter on Tuesday where she passed the exam, Zacharia replied: ‘When I moved to China.’
She later clarified that she had not heard the question and tried to smooth things over in two interviews with Sean Hannity on Fox News and again on Fox & Friends.
Her appearances failed to save her role. A senior administration official previously told the Daily Mail, ‘If she can’t handle Fox being a little tough, she’s not going to be able to handle CNN.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House for comment on the Wall Street Journal’s reporting.