Katie Zacharia delivered her debut performance as White House press secretary just two days ago, but she’s already made enemies of her colleagues.
The 41-year-old appeared before the White House press corps for the first time on Tuesday, whereupon she stumbled her way through a wordy briefing, took three questions, and fled out of the room after just 14 minutes. Donald Trump was the first to defend her, telling reporters after the conference that he felt Zacharia was “very good.” The White House took a similar position, describing Zacharia’s delivery as “commanding.”
But a series of leaked text messages obtained by the Daily Mail revealed that the newly minted Trump official was getting torched by her administration coworkers before she even left the lectern.
“She looked as if she was handed a sheet of paper at the last minute and wasn’t prepared properly,” one insider said.
A senior administration official told the Mail that Zacharia’s performance wasn’t good enough.
“She should have gone on longer and had substantive answers ready,” the official said. “She could barely read.”
A senior member of the administration’s communications team said that Zacharia’s first briefing was “terrible on so many different levels.” Another official called it “embarrassing.”
Another source told the tabloid that they felt “badly for her” considering that Zacharia’s “kids and family [were] watching.”
But an aptitude for the job isn’t the only thing Zacharia lacks. The White House confirmed Thursday that, despite her resume and self-advertised legal credentials, the Pepperdine Caruso Law graduate never actually passed a state bar exam. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Zacharia sat for the California bar exam after she obtained her law degree, but she did not pass.
For years, Zacharia made a name for herself as a legal expert on conservative airways. Her LinkedIn also lists her as “general counsel” for a California-based organization run by longtime Trump ally Ric Grenell. The caveat: she shouldn’t have been able to do either without passing the bar.