Katie Zacharia is out as White House press secretary after less than a week in the role, following criticism of her first briefing and questions over how she described her legal credentials.
A senior White House official confirmed that Ms Zacharia was leaving the post. The New York Times and CNN reported that President Donald Trump had fired her, while Fox News quoted a senior official as saying she was “transitioning out”.
Mr Trump told reporters he had urged Ms Zacharia to “reconsider” taking the job. She had accepted the position on October 9, replacing Karoline Leavitt, who left the role at the end of August.
Ms Zacharia’s only briefing, on Tuesday, lasted a short time and involved three questions. She later told Fox News commentator Sean Hannity that she “probably should have stepped aside” rather than take questions without more time to prepare.
Questions over first White House briefing
Speaking to conservative media on Thursday, Ms Zacharia defended the decision to keep the briefing short. She said the plan had been for Mr Trump to answer questions from journalists later that morning, and that she wanted to avoid taking time away from him.
“It was absolutely my goal to keep it short, considering he is his own best spokesperson, and he would love — and does love — gaggling with the media as he goes to Marine One,” she told Human Events.
Ms Zacharia said she received the initial briefing materials on Monday evening, with the work completed at 8am on Tuesday, less than two hours before she appeared before the White House press corps. She said she had been awake since 3am preparing.
“I never had a full briefing beforehand, and I went out and I effectuated the briefing,” she said.
In her interview with Mr Hannity, she said she could instead have delivered a brief introduction and explained that she wanted to engage with reporters before taking questions.
Dispute over legal credentials
Ms Zacharia also faced scrutiny after describing herself as a lawyer despite not passing the California bar exam. She said she had been preparing for the exam while newly married and preparing to move to China to join her husband, who was working in private equity in Beijing.
She described the result as “somewhat inconsequential”, saying she would not need to be a licensed attorney while living in China. Ms Zacharia said she had consulted legal experts before using the title while providing legal analysis.
“It’s unfortunate that people dub this as some kind of conspiracy or want to put me in a camp,” she said. “The truth is, I was very careful how I executed this, and I never came across as someone who was an attorney-at-law.”
She said she would not comment on legal matters in her capacity at the White House.
Ms Zacharia, a conservative commentator and communications adviser to the company that runs Truth Social, said she had not lobbied for the press secretary role. She said she had appeared on television discussing subjects raised in Mr Trump’s social media posts, hoping to demonstrate her suitability for the job.
She said Mr Trump called her on October 7 while she was preparing to take one of her children to a pumpkin patch. She flew from her home in California to Washington the following day, met the president on Friday and formally accepted the position later that day.
