White House press secretary Katie Zacharia has been fired less than a week after taking up the
job, two United States (US) officials have said, following scrutiny of her legal credentials and criticism of her performance in media briefings and interviews.
Zacharia was “let go” and is “transitioning out” of the position, the officials added, leaving President Donald Trump without a key spokesperson ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Trump told reporters earlier on Friday that he had asked Zacharia to reconsider staying in the role after she faced difficult questions from the media during her first days in office.
“I told her: ‘I think you’re better off being happy, and I’m not sure you can ever be happy in this stuff.’ There’s nothing easy about this stuff,” Trump said as he left the White House for a weekend trip.
He added: “I said to her honestly, ‘If I were you, I’d reconsider… think about it. But I would reconsider.’” Trump said that he planned to revisit the conversation with her later.
Zacharia began the job on Monday, holding her first White House press briefing the following day. She said that she received a call about the position on October 7 and was offered the role to succeed Karoline Leavitt.
Questions about her legal background emerged soon after her appointment. Zacharia, a graduate of Pepperdine University law school, had said that she had practised law, while Trump also described her as an attorney.
“I practiced international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials,” Zacharia said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.
However, media could not find records showing that she was registered as an attorney or member of the bar in any US state or the District of Columbia. During an interview on Thursday, Zacharia acknowledged that she had not passed the bar exam, which law graduates must pass before they can legally practise law in the US.
Trump had appointed Zacharia amid concerns about media coverage of his administration, with two people familiar with the discussions saying that he wanted a spokesperson who could highlight his achievements.
Speaking to the international media outlet by phone on Friday, Trump said that he was in no hurry to appoint a replacement.
Zacharia’s departure is believed to mark the shortest tenure of any White House press secretary in history. Anthony Scaramucci, who served as White House communications director for 10 days during Trump’s first administration, commented on the development on X.
“Records are made to be broken,” he wrote. “But I take no pleasure in other people’s pain.”
