Zacharia Leaves White House Press Job After Five Days as Trump Says He Urged Her to Reconsider

Since Trump named Katie Zacharia press secretary on Oct. 9, her tenure has run through a roughly 14-minute debut briefing, an admission that she never passed the bar exam, and a state bar complaint. On Friday, Oct. 16, it ended. A White House official confirmed she is "transitioning out" of the job.

Whether she quit or was fired is disputed. ZeroHedge, citing the New York Times and three people familiar with the matter, reported that Trump fired her. The New York Post likewise said she was canned Friday. Trump did not use the word fired.

What Trump said

Speaking to reporters on the South Lawn before leaving for a rally in Georgia, Trump said he had just spoken to her. "I said, 'Katie, is this for you?'" he said. "Honestly, if I were you, I'd reconsider."

He said she had been treated "pretty nastily" and "very unfairly" by the press, and that the final call was hers. "I'm going to let her make that decision," he said. He added that he would talk to her as soon as he got back.

Trump also said even Fox host Sean Hannity was "a little bit tough" on her during Thursday night's interview.

The White House has not said who will replace her. The White House did not respond to a request for comment, and Zacharia has not publicly responded to Trump's statement.

The week

Trump announced Zacharia on Oct. 9 to replace Karoline Leavitt, who left in late August and has since joined Fox News as a political analyst. In the announcement he called Zacharia "an attorney" and praised her "unblemished record of support."

Her first and only briefing was Tuesday, Oct. 13. She delivered a lengthy, halting opening statement read from notes and the briefing lasted roughly 14 minutes. She took three questions, from mostly conservative-leaning outlets.

She also announced at the podium that the administration had asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to step down as ambassador to Greece.

The bigger problem was her résumé. Asked outside with Trump where she passed the bar, Zacharia answered, "when I moved to China." She later told Real America's Voice she had "misheard" the question.

The Wall Street Journal reported that she failed the bar exam. The watchdog group Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint with the State Bar of California on Wednesday over her claims to be a lawyer.

On Thursday, Hannity pressed her on her qualifications. She acknowledged she had not passed the bar exam despite describing herself as an attorney.

Her defense

Zacharia disputes that she misled anyone. She says she consulted legal professionals and was told she could call herself a "lawyer" because she holds a valid Juris Doctor from Pepperdine, though not an "attorney." She said the bar results were "inconsequential" because she knew she would be living in China, and that she sat for the exam so she would not have a withdrawal status.

When Hannity cited a report of 15 social media posts in which she identified herself as an attorney, she said, "I think they were retweets."

She also told interviewers that the White House never asked whether she had passed the bar, and that she was being hired as press secretary, not White House counsel, according to ZeroHedge.

The law degree is real. It is unclear why the president's own announcement used a title she says she never claimed, or why nobody checked first.

Inside the White House

The accounts of why she went differ, and the key ones rest on unnamed sources. CNN's Kaitlan Collins reported that Trump was embarrassed by the coverage of the briefing and that when he polled other aides, Zacharia had few allies willing to defend her performance.

Earlier in the week, White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote on X that "up and down the White House, everyone has been thoroughly impressed with Katie in just a few short days on the job."

Sources friendly to her paint a different picture. Breitbart's Matthew Boyle wrote that a source told him Trump is still a huge fan and that she has lots of fans throughout the administration. Zacharia and her family are having dinner Friday night with Vice President JD Vance and his family at the vice president's residence.

A Daily Wire source said it remains unclear what position she will take next.

The record

Five days is shorter than Anthony Scaramucci's 11 days as communications director in 2017. CNBC noted that, by the "Scaramucci" yardstick, Zacharia lasted one-half of one Scaramucci. He posted on X: "Records are made to be broken. But I take no pleasure in other people's pain."

ZeroHedge described her as Trump's sixth White House press secretary, while The Hill called her departure that of his second press secretary of his second administration.

The timing is awkward. The press shop is empty less than three weeks before the midterms, with Republicans facing what The Hill called massive headwinds. NPR described Trump's popularity as having fallen to record lows.

Next: Trump has said he will speak with Zacharia when he returns from Georgia. Her new role has not been announced, and no successor has been named. The State Bar of California has not said whether it will act on the Campaign for Accountability complaint.