Donald Trump has fired White House press secretary Katie Zacharia after just five days in the job, making her the shortest-serving holder of the role in modern history. The New York Times, citing three people familiar with the matter, reported on Friday that Trump had dismissed her, while CNN reported the same, citing advisers to the president. As news that Katie Zacharia fired spread through Washington, a senior White House official told Fox News she was transitioning out of the role.
Katie Zacharia Fired After a Rocky Five Days
Trump named Zacharia, a conservative commentator and an adviser to the company that runs Truth Social, on October 9 to replace Karoline Leavitt, who left at the end of August. Few imagined the appointment would end with Katie Zacharia fired within a week. She started on October 12 and gave her first and only briefing on Tuesday. The session was short, and she took questions from just three reporters, stumbling through prepared remarks highlighting the president’s accomplishments. She made a notable gaffe when she called her husband the president, leaving members of the White House press corps puzzled.
Zacharia later told Fox News host Sean Hannity that she probably should have stepped aside instead of taking questions without time to prepare. She also sat down with the conservative outlet Human Events, saying it was always the plan to keep the briefing short because Trump himself would field questions from journalists later that morning. The explanations did little to steady a tenure already under intense scrutiny, and by the time reports broke that Katie Zacharia fired, the briefing-room experiment was effectively over.
Questions Over Legal Credentials Before Katie Zacharia Fired
When Trump announced her appointment, he described Zacharia as an attorney, but reports soon revealed that she had never passed the bar exam. In a Thursday interview she confirmed that she had taken the California bar once and failed. She had earlier called the issue somewhat inconsequential, saying she would not need to be licensed while living in China, a remark that drew further criticism.
The scrutiny over her legal background compounded the damage from the shaky briefing. White House staff had also grown anxious that Zacharia aimed to replace colleagues, a concern she publicly denied. Sources familiar with discussions inside the White House said Trump initially viewed her first briefing less negatively than some of his advisers, but her later interviews and conversations with allies reportedly changed his assessment. Her admission that she had failed the bar exam accelerated the process, and by Friday the word that Katie Zacharia fired was a done deal.
Trump Urged Her to Reconsider the Job
Speaking to reporters on Friday before heading to Georgia for a political rally, Trump said he had encouraged Zacharia to reconsider the position. He told reporters he had said to her that if he were her, he would reconsider, adding that he did not think she needed the demanding job. He questioned whether the role was right for her, saying it might simply not be for her.
Trump also said Zacharia had been mistreated by the media and praised her loyalty, while acknowledging she might not be suited to the role. His public suggestion that she reconsider made the outcome plain: Katie Zacharia fired was only a matter of formal announcement. One Trump adviser said she would leave the White House in the coming days. The episode leaves the administration without a permanent press secretary less than three weeks before the November midterm elections.
What Comes Next for the Briefing Room
Before settling on Zacharia, Trump had considered Maria Bartiromo and Scott Jennings, but Bartiromo indicated she would not take the position and Jennings was not offered the job. The five-day tenure is shorter than that of Anthony Scaramucci, who in 2017 served as White House communications director for less than 11 days, a span that became a joking unit of measurement for brief official service. By that metric, Zacharia lasted roughly half of one Scaramucci.
The departure underscores the administration’s volatile approach to communications roles. The record that Katie Zacharia fired after five days now stands as the shortest tenure in the office’s history, raising questions about vetting and steadiness in future spokesperson choices. With the midterms approaching, Trump is expected to move quickly to name a replacement who can sell his agenda, hoping the next chapter outlasts the five days that ended with Katie Zacharia fired.