Just five days after starting her job as White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia has officially been fired.
On Friday, October 16, Reuters reported that two separate White House officials confirmed Zacharia was out, stating she was “let go” and would be “transitioning out” of the job she began on October 12.
Ousted after just five days, Zacharia has set a new record as the shortest-tenured press secretary ever. That record was previously held by Anthony Scaramucci, who exited the role after just 11 days during the first Trump administration in 2017.
A Rocky Start
Zacharia held her first — and, it would turn out, only — press briefing on October 13, which was far from smooth.
Lasting just 14 minutes before it was abruptly ended, Zacharia had no substantive answers for the questions she was asked.
After reading a six-minute prepared statement about the Trump administration’s various accomplishments, she took questions.
One of her first exchanges as press secretary set the tone, when Fox News’ Pete Doocy asked if the U.S. was still sharing intelligence Ukraine after President Donald Trump’s recent criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“I’ll have to get back to you on that,” she responded, as reported by The Independent.
An Awkward Mistake
However, it was her response to a softball question — about how she planned to handle the responsibilities of her new job alongside those of being the mother of four young children — that really sent the briefing off the rails.
“The idea of not spending evenings with my kid, kids are, is completely unacceptable,” she said, generating laughter when she added, “So my president — excuse me, my husband — is out here.”
She continued by praising Trump. “He has hired more women with families, and the fact that he knew I had four kids and he knew that this job would be demanding, and still placed his trust in me, shows that I know I’m capable of being able to step up to that,” she said.
It was then that she informed reporters the press briefing had concluded after just 14 minutes, because the president was “heading out to Marine One for our historic trip to Alaska, and we can ask him all of the questions out there.”
As The Independent pointed out, the president’s scheduled departure for Alaska was still several hours away.
Following her exit on October 16, Trump met with reporters and shared what he’d told Zacharia.
“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,” he said, via Reuters.
She Never Passed the Bar
Beyond that shaky briefing performance, Zacharia had also stirred up controversy when the Wall Street Journal revealed that her assertion of being an attorney was not entirely accurate, given that she’d never passed the bar exam.
Zacharia was forced to come clean when she was interviewed by Fox News’ Sean Hannity, who asked her to confirm that she hadn’t passed the bar exam.
“Correct,” Zacharia replied. “For background, I graduated Pepperdine, got married in the same week, and we had all intent to move out to China. I had already pre-registered for the bar exam … I knew I would be living in China, and the results of the bar exam were inconsequential, and I sat for it because I didn’t want to have a withdraw status. And then I moved over to China, where I did get a job in an international practice of a Chinese law firm…”
At that point, Hannity interrupted her, and asked if she’d ever taken the bar exam a second time. “I did not, Sean,” she answered.
At time of reporting, Zacharia’s successor as White House secretary has yet to announced.
New White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia Fired After Just Five Days