Katie Zacharia has been removed as White House press secretary after five days in the role, following a troubled first briefing, questions over her legal qualifications and a series of attempts to defend her performance in television interviews.
President Trump said on Friday that Zacharia might be “better off being happy” after telling reporters that the position was “maybe” not for her. The White House then announced that she would be “transitioning” out of the job.
Questions over Katie Zacharia’s White House briefing
Zacharia’s short tenure began to unravel at her first briefing on Tuesday, when she appeared nervous and relied heavily on a prepared script in the James S Brady Press Briefing Room.
She took only three questions during the 14-minute session. Asked by Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy whether the United States had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine, she said she could not answer.
She also disclosed that Trump had asked Kimberly Guilfoyle, the US ambassador to Greece, to resign. The revelation was unexpected and added to the scrutiny surrounding the new press secretary.
Later that day, reporters questioned Zacharia on the South Lawn about her description of herself as a lawyer and “general counsel” in television appearances and on LinkedIn. Trump had also referred to her as an attorney.
Asked where she had passed the bar exam, Zacharia replied: “When I moved to China.” She later said she had misheard the question over the noise of Marine One and believed she had been asked where she was after law school.
Reporters subsequently contacted bar exam authorities in all 50 states, according to the material, and found that Zacharia had not passed the examination in any of them. She had failed the California exam in 2011 and did not take it again.
The episode prompted criticism from inside the administration. One Trump-world source said she had appeared to have been given briefing material at the last minute, while a senior administration official described the hiring and briefing as evidence that the White House was struggling under pressure.
The White House denied that Zacharia had been deliberately sabotaged. She nevertheless travelled with Trump to Alaska aboard Air Force One as negative coverage of her debut continued.
Television interviews fail to halt the criticism
On Thursday, Zacharia began a media campaign aimed at defending her position. Speaking to Jack Posobiec on Real America’s Voice, she said she had been in a pumpkin patch in California with her son when Trump called her and that she had travelled to Washington at short notice.
She said she had woken at 3am on the morning of the briefing to prepare, while the material for the session had not been finalised until 8am. The briefing had been scheduled for 9.30am because of the planned departure for Alaska, she added.
Zacharia described the controversy over her legal credentials as a “miscommunication”. She said she had obtained a law degree from Pepperdine and had been told by people in the field that it was acceptable to describe herself as a lawyer while offering legal analysis rather than legal advice.
She also joked about who might portray her on Saturday Night Live, saying she favoured Scarlett Johansson.
Her later appearance with Sean Hannity on Fox News was more confrontational. Hannity noted that her briefing had been widely criticised and that she had not passed the bar exam.
Zacharia said her failure had followed a rushed period in which she graduated from Pepperdine, married and planned to move to China. The result, she said, had been “inconsequential”, and she had taken the examination to avoid a record of withdrawing.
When Hannity raised evidence that she had referred to herself at least 15 times on social media as a lawyer or attorney, she replied: “I think they were retweets, and I corrected the record. They were retweets of a title that had been given.”
She maintained that she had been given little preparation for the briefing and suggested that the reviews had been mixed. Hannity asked whether she believed White House staff should have prepared her more thoroughly.
Further questions were raised about her work for a Chinese law firm and claims in her husband’s biography that he had helped to build teams in North Korea. Those details were being examined by journalists as Zacharia continued her media appearances.
Trump says the role may not be right for her
On Friday morning, Zacharia appeared on Fox & Friends, where Lawrence Jones asked whether she still had the President’s confidence.
She pointed to her continued travel with Trump during midterm rallies and said she hoped to build the trust and confidence of those around her. Asked why she had not clarified her legal qualifications before being hired, she replied: “Those questions weren’t asked. I’m being hired as White House press secretary, not White House counsel.”
Trump appeared to have reached a decision soon afterwards. Speaking to reporters outside the White House, he criticised the media as “nasty” and said Zacharia might be better suited to being happy elsewhere.
The decision was presented in relatively mild terms, with the White House saying she would transition out of the post. Zacharia had reportedly been Trump’s personal choice, while chief of staff Susie Wiles was said not to have been involved in her selection.
Despite losing the press secretary’s job, Zacharia was scheduled to have dinner with Vice President JD Vance and his family on Friday night. The next stage of her relationship with the White House remained unclear.
