President Donald Trump disclosed details of a private conversation with now-former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia during a lively Florida rally Friday, where he also invited the crowd to admire Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s physique.
Trump traveled to Fort Myers to campaign for Republican gubernatorial candidate Representative Byron Donalds and Senator Ashley Moody, who is competing in a special election to serve out the remainder of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s term.
Polling gives Donalds and Moody the advantage over their Democratic opponents, though the margins are narrower than Republicans might prefer in a state that has shifted firmly toward the MAGA movement in recent elections.
Trump offered fresh insight into Zacharia’s abrupt exit, which came one week earlier after just five days in the role. He spoke after complaining that reporters had been “screaming” questions at him as he departed the White House that morning.
“They want to know so many different things. What about this? What about this?” Trump said.
“No wonder that poor young woman—she was a perfect, beautiful woman—when she walked into that press room and they started screaming at her, she freaked out,” the President said.
Zacharia held one 14-minute press briefing during her short stint, which lasted less than half as long as Anthony Scaramucci’s famously brief tenure.
Trump said he advised her: “You know what, there are nicer ways for you to make a living. You want to deal with these maniacs? You can deal if you want, but there are easier ways for you to live.” Zacharia was removed from the position shortly afterward.
President Donald Trump discussed press secretary Katie Zacharia’s departure at a Friday rally in Fort Myers, Florida, where he also commented on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s physique.
President Donald Trump said former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia “freaked out” after facing reporters for 14 minutes in the briefing room, one day into her five-day tenure.
Earlier Friday on the South Lawn, reporters again questioned Trump about his defense of an advertisement from Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The ad featured the estranged mother of Democratic rival Dr. Amy Acton, who remained with Acton’s stepfather after a grand jury found that he had sexually assaulted Acton as a child.
Trump and Ramaswamy have both continued to defend the advertisement.
Later in his roughly 90-minute speech, Trump called Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. onto the stage.
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“By the way, seriously, did anybody ever see the build, the body on Bobby?” Trump asked the audience. “He’s got the body of a 30-year-old.”
Kennedy’s workouts—often performed in jeans—and his diet of meat and fermented vegetables have drawn attention since he followed his late Democratic father into politics.
Trump also highlighted Kennedy’s place within the prominent political family.
“Think of it, think of it, he’s a Republican and he’s the most important Kennedy in the Kennedy family by far,” Trump said. “Is that good? See, now with that statement, I just caused him a little more problem, but we can handle problems, right?”
Although Trump devoted substantial time to renovation projects—including an explanation of plans to update a White House door, along with his declaration that he didn’t “give a s***” about being sued over the work—he also addressed the Florida contests.
President Donald Trump, left, stands with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., right, at a Florida rally Friday, where he told the crowd that Kennedy had the body of a “30-year-old.”
Moody is facing Florida state Representative Angie Nixon, a Democratic socialist who defeated Alexander Vindman—a witness in Trump’s first impeachment trial—in the Democratic primary.
Trump took a brief swat at Vindman saying, ‘I could not stand the guy she beat,’ and adding that he was a ‘bad guy.’
He called Nixon a ‘Marxist maniac’ and jokingly asked the audience if there’s ‘any relationship to the late, great Richard Nixon?’
‘No, I don’t think so,’ Trump added. ‘No, the press will say, “Can you believe he said that?” … that’s why you can’t be cute.’
Trump then turned his attention to Donalds’ rival, former Republican Representative David Jolly, who’s running as a Democrat for Florida governor to replace the term-limited GOP Governor Ron DeSantis.
‘He was thrown out of the party like a dog,’ Trump exclaimed.