Katie Zacharia Out as White House Press Secretary After Five Days and One Disastrous Briefing
Katie Zacharia, a 41-year-old ex-conservative news commentator and mother of four from California, was dismissed from her role as White House press secretary by Donald Trump just five days after her appointment, with Trump advising her to rethink her position. Her time in office was even shorter than Anthony Scaramucci's 10 days in 2017. During her only briefing, she announced the resignation of Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle and permitted questions solely from three conservative media outlets. Zacharia was non-committal regarding intelligence sharing with Ukraine and her qualifications to practice law remain uncertain, having graduated from Pepperdine but seemingly not passing the California bar exam. She took over from Karoline Leavitt and has been affiliated with Truth Social and the Trump Media & Technology Group.
Key facts
- Zacharia's tenure lasted five days, half the length of Anthony Scaramucci's 10 days in 2017
- Her sole press conference ran just over eight minutes and was mostly read from a script
- She announced Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle's requested resignation from the Athens post
- Only three conservative, Trump-friendly outlets were allowed to ask questions
- She said she would get back to reporters on whether the US still shares intelligence with Ukraine
- She graduated from Pepperdine University's law school and serves on its Dean's Council but does not appear to have passed the California bar exam
- She previously held roles at Truth Social and the Trump Media & Technology Group
- She succeeded Karoline Leavitt, who left in early August
- She blamed the briefing on lack of prep time and waking at 03.00
Entities
Artists
- Katie Zacharia
- Donald Trump
- Anthony Scaramucci
- Kimberly Guilfoyle
- Donald Trump Jr
- Karoline Leavitt
- Scott Jennings
- JD Vance
- Stephen Miller
Institutions
- White House
- Truth Social
- Trump Media & Technology Group
- Pepperdine University
- CNN
- Monocle
Locations
- California
- United States
- Athens
- Greece
- Beijing
- China
- Washington
Sources
- Monocle —