Are days already numbered for Katie Zacharia? Trump's new press secretary is put through brutal interview by his Fox News favourite

Donald Trump's new press secretary Katie Zacharia on Thursday was grilled in a brutal Fox News interview about her disastrous first press conference.

Now, people are already questioning whether her days as the White House's latest spokesperson may already be numbered.

During the briefing on Tuesday, the 41-year-old took only three questions - all from conservative publications - stuttered through her own sentences, confused the president with her husband, and ended the session after just 14 minutes.

Appearing on the 'Hannity' show late on Thursday, Zacharia may have expected a friendly interview from her boss's favourite network.

Instead, she was ruthlessly quizzed about her sub-par performance as well as whether she was legally allowed to refer to herself as a lawyer, having never passed the US bar exam. 

'You did ⁠not pass the bar exam, correct?' Hannity asked. 'Correct,' ​she said in response.

'I did not,' she said, when Hannity asked if she ever took the bar ​exam a second time.

When asked what she felt about her performance in the awkward press conference, Zacharia said she was only offered the position last Friday and did not have a lot of time to prepare for the question-and-answer session.

'What I feel is I ⁠really ​stepped up to the plate to ​do the press conference, Sean, with very little prep time,' she said.

'Given the fact that I had been on the job less than maybe eight hours, and had a briefing book in the morning, I feel like I did my very best, Sean, to deliver for the American people that day.'

Hannity responded: 'Am I hearing that you think the staff should have prepped you better?'

Zacharia said that she felt the conference should have just consisted of her briefly introducing herself to the press corps, as opposed to taking questions.

When asked in Tuesday's briefing about whether the US was going to stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine, Zacharia didn't seem to have an answer, saying: 'I'll have to get back to you on that.'

And journalists simply did not have enough time to ask the White House's new spokesperson about Trump's controversial deal to buy Russian diesel, or about the so-called 'energy ceasefire' between Russia and Ukraine. 

Zacharia has previously ​said she practiced law before entering politics and ​Trump had described her as an attorney. 

She earned her law degree from ​Pepperdine University in 2011, according to the university. 

Nearly all licensed US ‌lawyers ⁠first obtain a law degree, but law school graduates cannot legally practice law in the US without first being admitted to a state bar. 

Following Tuesday's press conference, a reporter asked Zacharia where she passed the bar exam, and she gave a confusing answer: 'When I moved to China.'

Speaking to Hannity, Zacharia clarified that she failed the bar before moving to China, where she said she got a job in a Chinese law firm.

Hannity suggested she would have been better off telling reporters that she graduated from Pepperdine and took a different career path, instead of continuing to call herself a lawyer.

'Why didn't you just say, "I never practiced law"?' he said.  

Zacharia claimed she consulted attorneys, who agreed that she was allowed to be labelled a 'lawyer' due to her degree and legal experience in a firm. 

Hannity concluded the interview by asking Zacharia what she 'might do a little differently going forward' in her role, before offering her some 'unsolicited advice'. 

'That's never going to be a friendly room to you,' he said.

Zacharia replied saying she would 'absolutely be very well prepared on the briefing' in future conferences.

Following the interview, one MAGA account posted on X: 'Hannity was clearly out for blood. She might not make it to November.'

Semafor editor Max Tani said: 'Hannity knows Trump watches his show. His decision to ask Katie Zacharia real questions instead of just defending her or criticising the media seems pretty notable.'

Trump was spotted being greeted by his beaming 'human printer' assistant Natalie Harp and Zacharia in a photo from their trip to Alaska on Tuesday afternoon.

Zacharia and Harp, 35, sat side by side in close proximity to the 80-year-old president aboard Marine One as they prepared to fly from Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage to Wasilla, Alaska.

Harp was dubbed the 'human printer' after she was said to carry a portable device to print out social media posts and articles favourable to the president.

She has been the subject of recent public scrutiny because of the nature and intensity of her relationship with him.

She was revealed to have sent Trump gushing emails and was by his side when he covertly switched planes via a catering truck after a NATO summit in Turkey on the basis of a supposed assassination threat from Iran. 

Later, during a political rally in Wasilla, the president had Harp bring him the pardons for Zachary Czuback and Patrick Fleming, co-owners of a vehicle repair shop in Anchorage. 

Both men pleaded guilty in 2022 to violating the Clean Air Act by tampering with federally mandated and monitored devices that tracked vehicles’ diesel emissions.

Zacharia hadn't even left the White House podium after her first on-camera press briefing when her colleagues started knifing her.

'I feel badly for her... her kids and family watching,' one source said. 

A senior Trump communications official called it 'terrible on so many different levels,' while another called it 'embarrassing.' 

A GOP communications expert sent only a single dumpster fire emoji.

As the Daily Mail previously reported, Trump hired Zacharia on the spur of the moment without consulting his Chief of Staff Susie Wiles or any serious vetting. 

'Her hiring and the briefing shows this White House is collapsing now that they're facing real pressure,' a senior Trump administration official told the Daily Mail.

'They have no idea who to hire. We're entering wartime and they're completely unequipped.'

Officially, the White House press shop is calling the performance 'commanding.'

Trump himself, asked by reporters later in the day, offered a six-word verdict: 'I thought she was very good.'